Humanity's Overman
by iron weevil
Summary: When the infant Kal-El is rocketed away from his doomed home world, he crash lands in Wall Maria. Found and adopted by the Jaeger family; his childhood is filled with pain. When you live in constant fear of giant man-eating beasts, the whole world is pain. But perhaps there is a chance for hope. Kal will be that hope. To be the Superman. (using earth 23 superman [OC is superman]).
1. Krypton's last

**I give you the first ever Attack on titan/Superman crossover. You're welcome.**

Krypton was a planet far away from our little blue dot. Inhabited by a race much like our own, but far more technologically advanced. The planet was much more hostile; thinner atmosphere that would be considered poisonous to us, much more gravity, and less water to go around. But still this civilization thrived.

A scientist by the name Jor-El was an important figure on krypton. He was head of the science department on Vathlo Island. He was also in charge of keeping relations with the rest of Krypton, as Vathlo Island was the only nation independent from the Kryptonian union. Because of this independence, the Kryptonians on that island developed into an entirely different race. Having darker skin color. Despite this, Vathlo Island had a good relationship with the Kryptonian union; interracial marriage was starting to become a thing. But these progresses were going to abruptly end, as the findings from the scientist Jor-El told a grim story.

Jor-El stood in the center of a council, confronting those who ruled Krypton. He reported his findings and demanded immediate action.

"You don't understand, Krypton's core is collapsing; we may only have a matter of weeks" Jor-El explained, "I warned you, harvesting the core was suicide, it has accelerated the process of implosion"

"Our energy reserves were exhausted; what would you have us do El?" one councilman retorted.

"Look to the stars! Like our ancestors did" Jor-El quickly responded, "there are habitable worlds within reach; we can begin by using the old outposts"

"Are you seriously suggesting we evacuate the entire planet" a councilwoman spoke up.

"No; everybody here is already dead" Jor-El said grimly, "give me control of the codex, I will ensure the survival of our species. There is still hope, I have held that hope in my hands"

Just then, an explosion came from down the hall. A bunch of soldiers came out of the smoke to reveal a figure. General Zod.

"This council has been disbanded" Zod said authoritatively.

"On whose authority?" the councilwoman demanded

"Mine" Zod replied before shooting said councilwoman, "The rest of you will be tried and punished accordingly"

"What are you doing Zod? This is madness!" Jor-El shouted.

"What I should have done years ago; these lawmakers with their endless debates have led Krypton to ruin" proclaimed Zod as his soldiers rounded up the council members.

"And if your forces prevail, you'll be the leader of nothing!" Jor-El said bravely

"Then join me, help me save our species" Zod offered, "to start anew, to severe the degenerative bloodlines that led us to this state; even to join our two races into one master race"

"And who will decide which bloodlines survive Zod?" Jor-El asked, "You?"

Zod gave Jor a stern look before saying, "don't do this El; the last thing I want is for us to be enemies".

"You have forgotten the principles that bound us together" Jor-El replied hoarsely, "You've taken up the sword against your own people; I honor the man you once were Zod, not this monster you've become"

Zod had a slightly hurt look on his face before he turned around and said, "Take him away". As the soldiers took him away, a drone hovered in front of him.

"Sir, is everything alright?" the drone asked

"Out of the way!" one of the soldiers demanded

Jor-El nodded before a blinding light emitted from the drone blinding the soldiers who detained Jor-El. Jor head-butted the soldier on his left before he grabbed the right one's gun and turned him around to punch him in the back. The soldier turned back around to shoot him but Jor-El grabbed the gun again and turned it upward. Jor spun around to get into the right position to shoot the grounded soldier that he head-butted. After he was done, another soldier ran up to him and punched him in the face. Jor-El responded by kicking him in the knee, putting him on the ground. Jor then elbowed the man he was holding onto and used his gun to shoot the grounded man. Jor continued by wrenching the gun out of the soldier's hand and smacking him with it, knocking him out. After he was done, he spoke to the drone.

"Get me Lara" said Jor-El.

Lara appeared on the screen to speak to him, but she noticed some soldiers behind him and warned him about them. Jor shot both of them before he turned back to the screen.

"Lara, you have to ready the launch, I'll be with you as soon as I can" Jor-El explained before he ran outside.

He saw a raging battle in front of him, but he had a job to do.

"HARAKAH!" Jor-El shouted

Then, a large four winged dragon like creature came flying towards him. It landed right next to him before Jor-El got onto him. The dragon creature jumped off the ledge a dived down to the giant gill-like structures below with the drone following. The creature flew through the megastructure, dodging the fire that whizzed past them.

Jor-El got above a large rock-like structure with pools of water jutting out from it. He lowered down onto it.

"Do you see the central codex?" Jor-El asked the drone

"It's just beneath the central hub sir, but I'm compelled to warn you; breaching the genesis chamber is a class B crime punishable b-" the drone was cut off by Jor-El saying: "nobody cares akeel x, the world is about to come to an end". With that said, Jor-El dived into the pool of the genesis chamber. He swam though the large chamber where unborn babies were artificially grown. they were grown on vines in these transclearant pods. the chamber was peacful in a way. the peace came to an end when Jor-El pushed up to the surface of the chamber. He looked up to see tentacle-like structured taking genetic information from a skull. Jor-El reached up and grabbed the skull. But when he did, a beeping sound was heard that would alert the already scattered authorities. With the sound, Jor-El dived back down to escape.

He emerged from the pool with the codex in hand. He heard a whirring sound and turned around to see a fighter aircraft aiming at him.

"Jor-El, by the authority of general Zod, surrender the codex" the pilot ordered.

Jor-El jumped off the ledge as the aircraft shot at him. As he was falling towards another gill-like structure bellow him, his dragon creature caught him and carried him off. The aircraft followed closely behind. The Harakah (the dragon creature) tried it's best to dodge the incoming fire. It started to pay off when they came to the end of the gill-like structure; but there was a crashing ship blocking the way!

Jor-El was going to try a risky maneuver, one that might lose the perusing aircraft. Harakah dived through the crashing ship. One of the aircraft crashed into burning ship while the other moved out of the way.

It was a complete inferno as Jor and Harakah narrowly escaped the explosion that was caused by the massive ship. Jor-El noticed that Harakah was injured; he had to get to his aircraft fast! It would carry them back to Vathlo Island where the launch was being prepared.

"Easy Harakah" Jor-El said in a soft voice.

Harakah barely landed next to the aircraft. But time was being wasted. Jor-El loaded Harakah and the drone into the craft and took off. He went at full speed. The flight had Jor-El very tedious as even at full speed, the flight would take at least 20 minutes.

The craft managed to make it to the launch pad at the El residence. It made a soft crash landing as the craft ran out of fuel. Jor-El quickly got out and came to the room where Lara and his son: Kal-El was. Jor-El put the codex into similar tentacle-like structures. The codex was ingrained into the infant.

"Find a world?" Jor-El asked his wife

"We have" Lara replied.

"Orbiting a main sequence yellow star just as you said it would" the drone added

"A yellow star; his cells will drink up the radiation" Jor-El observed, "seemingly intelligent population".

"He'll be an outcast, a freak; they'll kill him" Lara said with worry.

"No" Jor-El said sternly, "he'll be a god to them"

"The planet seems to also have giant inhabitants" the drone continued, "they seem to all be concentrated on a subcontinent".

Lara gave Jor-El a skeptical look.

"Are the giant inhabitants hostile?" Lara asked the drone

"We currently have no info on that, though probes have spotted massive wall structures on the subcontinent, perhaps to repel the larger species, but doing so has left them trapped"

That could only mean one thing; that the giant creatures were hostile.

"Jor, please don't tell me he is heading there" said Lara with concern

"We cannot know for curtain if he'll land on the island specifically, but on that planet, he'll have abilities beyond that of Kryptonians, maybe even enough to surpass the power of the new Gods" Jor-El said wearily, "he will be the representation of a long dead races".

"What if the ship doesn't make it" Lara said, "he'll die out there, alone. I thought I could do it, but I can't"

She looked down at her child. His dark brown eyes met hers. His smile carried all the innocence of the world.

"Lara, krypton is dead, it's his only chance now" Jor-El explained, "this will be the last thing we do that matters".

"I'll upload the codex" said Jor-El.

"No wait, let me look at him" said Lara as she looked down at him, "We'll never get to see him walk, or to hear him say our names".

"Out there, amongst the stars, he'll live" Jor-El said softly.

Both kissed him before Jor-El took the infant Kal-El and put him into the pod. Kal-El let out a cry. The information of the codex was transferred to him and more information was transferred to a crystal with an 'S' shaped symbol on it.

"Goodbye my son" Jor-El said with sadness, "may our hopes and dreams travel with you".

With heavy hearts, they loaded the pod and sent him off the world. Both had wetness in their eyes. Both went off to the deck that overlooked the land on Vathlo Island. They sat down and enjoyed the last sunset on Krypton.

"Remember all those years ago" Jor-El said sadly.

"When we were first married?" Lara replied

"And they said that 'may only death separate us" Jor continued.

"I'm glad we can spend our final moments together" Lara said almost about to cry.

"He will be our legacy" Jor said almost about to cry himself.

A tremor was felt before the whole island seemed to start sinking into the sea. Jor and Lara joined each other in a lover's embrace before the island sunk into the sea. After that, the entire planet collapsed in on itself.

The infant Kal-El was jetting safely towards its destination at incredible speeds. He was Krypton's last survivor.

 **Worlds away**

There was a wagon traveling through open fields at night. Driving the horse drawn wagon was a young doctor by the name of Grisha Jaeger. He had with him a woman named Carla Jaeger, his wife. The woman was carrying a baby, a year and a half old. They called the baby Eren Jaeger. Carla looked up at the starry sky and appreciated their beauty. She then turned to her husband.

"Grisha, why are we going to Shiganshina? That district is the most likely to be attacked by titans" Carla questioned.

"Carla, that wall has stood strong for over a hundred years, and besides, that city is in dire need of a doctor" Grisha answered.

"I know; but I think it would be better to raise Eren in the countryside" Carla said.

"Yes, but a farmer would never make as much money as a doctor" Grisha retorted.

Carla pondered at that statement before again looking to the stars. She saw that one of them was moving.

"Grisha, look, it's a shooting star; want to make a wish?" Carla said with excitement

"Carla, do you really believe in such things?" Grisha questioned, "and besides, I already got my wish"

"Oh really, and what is it?" Carla asked

"A job as a doctor of course" Grisha said.

Carla pouted before getting a struck of inspiration. She looked down at her son and told Grisha her own wish.

"Well you know what I wish for?" Carla said

"What?" Grisha asked.

"Another child" Carla said.

"But you know how much work that's going to be?" said Grisha, "and besides, those shooting star things don't work"

Just as if on que, the 'shooting star started to move towards the small family.

"Um, Grisha, I think that shooting star is heading towards us" Carla said in fright.

Grisha noticed too and made the horses go faster. The 'shooting star' shot above them and landed in a field right next to the road. The crashing sound was loud enough to make the young Eren start crying. Grisha stopped the cart and got off the wagon. Carla too got off the wagon with the still crying Eren and they made their way towards the object.

When they made their way to the fallen object, they expected one of those falling rocks that sometimes happen. What they saw instead completely blew them away. It looked like some sort of craft. Grisha started to move closely to it.

"Grisha, what are you doing?" Carla whispered loudly.

"Inspecting it" Grisha answered.

Before Grisha could touch it, the craft hissed and began to open. Inside was a baby. Both Grisha and Carla stood in awe. Even Eren seemed to shut up. Carla handed Grisha Eren and instinctively went for the baby. She picked him up and held him like he was her own. He looked quite similar to a normal baby, but his skin was much darker than anybody's; even those with a really good tan.

The baby smiled and lifted his stubby arms to try and grab the Carla. Carla smiled and kissed the baby.

"What should we name him?" Carla asked

"What? Are you suggesting that we adopt him?" Grisha hissed, "He just fell out of the sky, I don't think anybody's ready for this"

"And that's why we should keep him" Carla proclaimed, "he was sent here for a reason, and we were chosen for it; what do you want to do? Leave him for dead?"

Grisha sighed and said, "Fine, but we need to keep his origin a secret". Grisha then looked at the craft.

"We need to find a way to transport this" Grisha said before handing Carla Eren.

When Grisha touched the craft it started to float in the air, surprising both of them.

"Well that'll make things easier" Grisha commented.

He started to pull the craft towards the wagon. The craft seemed almost weightless. Carla then looked down at her two sons and smiled.

"Say hello to your new brother Eren" Carla said in a soft voice.

"Bubby!" Eren babbled.

Carla nearly squealed from hearing that. She turned to Grisha who was tying the craft to the wagon and putting a tarp over it.

"Did you hear that Grisha? Eren said his first word!" Carla exclaimed

Grisha gave a soft smile and got onto the wagon.

"Come now, we have a long ways to go" said Grisha.

Carla got onto the wagon and looked down to her new son.

"What should we name him?" she asked

"I don't know; maybe Sasuke" suggested Grisha, "I heard it was popular among those easterners; even though I think they're extinct now"

"He doesn't look much like an easterner though" Carla said.

"Yeah; let me think of another one" said Grisha.

"Oh! How about Friedrich; it sounds classy" Carla suggested.

"Friedrich Jaeger" Grisha said to himself, "You know what, I like that"

"I guess it's settled; his name shall be Friedrich Jaeger" Carla said.

The family continued traveling through the night. Little did they know, both babies would one day play a pivotal role in humanity's salvation.

 **So, what did you guys think? Not bad eh? I decided to use the black superman because everybody else is white (well, except for Mikasa) it would be hard not to. Oh and yes, supe's name is a shout out to Friedrich Nietzsche, the one who came up with the idea for the Ubermensch. And most everybody in Attack on titan are German, so it all falls into place.**


	2. a little fish in a big pond

**In this chapter, we get to see Friedrich in all his glory: as a little kid.**

When Grisha and Carla Jaeger finally settled in their house in Shiganshina district, they put Friedrich's pod in the basement; for if the authorities knew, they would take Friedrich away. His origin had to be kept a secret for his safety.

But his skin color would be a point of interest. As would be discovered when relatives visited a couple months later. They entered the house a few days before Christmas, but they only expected one child.

"Oh let me see little Eren!" said Gretchen in excitement

Gretchen was Carla's sister, and she was joined by her husband Mislav, a man from the northeastern territory of Wall Maria who had a handlebar mustache to accompany him.

"But he's asleep, I wouldn't want to wake him up" said Carla.

"I could just watch him" suggested Gretchen.

Then, a crying was heard from a room upstairs. Grisha went to go check it out.

"Is that Eren?" asked Gretchen

"Oh, leave your sister alone" said Nikolai in a thick accent.

But the thing is, the crying wasn't coming from Eren's room; it was coming from the attic, where they kept Friedrich. Grisha went upstairs to go check on him. Though Gretchen thought this was a que to go and visit Eren. But Eren was still fast asleep. That left one question; where was the crying coming from?

Grisha entered the attic to find Friedrich crying. It was probably all this isolation that was making him cry. Grisha walked over to the makeshift crib. Once he picked him up he stopped crying. Friedrich made the face like he was about to sneeze so Grisha turned him away.

"AHCHOO!"

The force from the sneeze knocked Grisha onto his butt. Grisha sat there bewildered. This baby who fell out of the sky was not human. Grisha quickly stood up as the rest of them quickly made their way up to the attic. Gretchen quickly went for the baby in Grisha's arms.

"Carla! You didn't tell me you had another baby!" she said loudly

"Well I wanted Eren to have a brother around his age" Carla said nervously.

Then Gretchen screamed upon looking at his face, almost dropping him. Mislav looked almost as bewildered as Gretchen.

"What's wrong with his skin? It is the color of chocolate" Gretchen said recovering

"Well um, you see" Grisha said uneasy, "he has a rare skin condition"

"Oh, well, he still looks cute I guess" said Gretchen in relief, "he doesn't look much like either of you besides the skin"

"Well the condition makes people look, well, umm… different" replied Grisha.

"How come I've never heard of it then?" asked Dominick

"Well it is so rare, only a few doctors have heard about it" Grisha lied.

"But why do you leave him up here?" asked Mislav

"Yes, why did we leave him up here?" said Carla smacking Grisha in the head

"We should bring him down stairs" Carla continued.

So they brought him down stairs and had a grand old time. But news like this doesn't stay quiet. Once the family members left, the news spread like wildfire. People from all around came to see the 'chocolate baby'.

He baffled scientist and amazed those were not scientists. Though the uproar would quickly die down. He just became a special child and some rumors even said that he was demon spawn, which explained the dark skin.

But as he grew up, he showed that he had special abilities, abilities that his family told him to hide. He became a shy a reserved individual in contrast to his brother, who was stubborn and had a strong personality. This made him a target for bullies. They pestered him not just because of his skin color, but also his personality. For bullies do not only prey on the different, but also on the weak.

as for his brother; he became an outcast as well. Both grew into their own. Both had brown hair, though Eren's was usually longer and straight while Friedrich's was shorter and somehow more curly. Friedrich's eyes were dull brown while Eren's were a brilliant bluish green. Friedrich also had a a broader nose than most.

The first true time he showed any true signs of being superhuman was when he was five. His family went for a little camping trip in a forest near Shiganshina district.

"Mom, do we have to go camping? The survey corps is going to leave today" whined Eren.

"We can go without seeing them go to the dangerous territory" Eren's mother (Carla) replied.

"Well, what do you think Friedrich?" asked Eren

"What are the survey corps?" asked Friedrich

"Something you shouldn't worry about" Grisha responded with haste.

"But I want to know" said Friedrich disappointed.

"Oh, they're these super-cool army guys who go out and fight the titans themselves and they do it to reclaim the land we've lost" said Eren with excitement to the now starry-eyed Friedrich.

"You can't be thinking of joining, are you?" said Carla with worry

"Well, um" Eren responded before Grisha finished it.

"The answer is no, I won't have you dying on me" stated Grisha.

They were passing under a rocky cliff before a boulder started to fall towards them. The Jaegers ran out of the way but Friedrich was too frozen in fear to move. Grisha tried to dive to push him out of the way; but it was too late. The boulder has already fallen on him, or so it seemed. To their awe, Friedrich was lifting the boulder over his head. It was at least five times his size. He then threw the boulder down the canyon and looked down at his hands. He looked up in excitement to the shocked parents and the amazed Eren.

"DID YOU SEE THAT?! THAT WAS SO COOL!" Friedrich shouted

"I know man! That was awesome!" Eren exclaimed

Grisha and Carla looked at each other in worry before running to hug their adopted son. Grisha gave him a scared look when he came in contact with him.

"You must promise to never show this ability to anyone" said Grisha seriously, "this has to be a secret".

"Why?" Friedrich asked

"Yeah; why?" Eren asked, "That was amazing"

"Because if you do the government will take you away and you'll never be seen again!" Grisha said loudly

"The world is like glass too you now, if you're not careful you might break something" Carla added, "or someone"

Friedrich was always the strongest boy in the neighborhood (which he affectionately called 'the hood'). He always viewed that as his one comfort from the constant torment he experienced from the other kids. Now it was like some sort of curse. He was trapped because of his gifts.

When they got back from the trip, Life just seemed different. It wasn't long before he was targeted by a group of bullies. They were a bunch of boys around ten. They threw him against a wall in an effort to get him to fight them. They heard he was strong, and their pre-pubescent masculinity felt threatened.

"Come on mud man, I thought you were a tough guy" one sneered.

"Give it up, he's just another sissy" another said shoving him, "so much for demon spawn".

Just then, Eren came charging at them. He managed to tackle one before the others pulled him off and ganged up on him.

"Look, we have the mud skin's big brother" one grunted as he punched Eren.

"Stop it!" screamed Friedrich

"And he's angry, what are you going to do about it?" one said confident in himself

"Let my brother go or else" Friedrich said angrily.

"Or else what?" one snorted

"Or else I'll tell your parents" Grisha said from behind them.

The boys scattered, running from authority like they will one day do. Grisha picked up the beaten Eren and checked his wounds.

"Eren, what were you thinking?!" Grisha scolded

"That my little brother was in trouble and I needed to save him" Eren responded.

"I wanted to fight" said Friedrich.

Grisha paused for a moment before saying, "so did I".

"But you are strong, too strong" Grisha continued, "do you have any idea what you could do to them if you unleashed your anger, you could have killed them"

"But those pigs deserved it" Eren said in anger.

"Eren! They were just boys playing at being men, they do not deserve death" Grisha scolded

Grisha stopped and kneeled down to the two boys.

"My father once told me this, he learned it from this other man" Grisha explained, "be careful when fighting monsters that you do not become one yourself; for when you look into the abyss, the abyss looks back at you"

"I won't become a monster" Eren said with determination.

Friedrich was silent. He was probably too young to understand the quote, but it somehow spoke to him. He was too strong for this world. He couldn't read, he couldn't write, he didn't know much about the world, for he was too young. He did know now that he had to become a boy without a voice in order to keep everyone safe.

But next week was the first day of school for him. He could finally learn more about the world, and gain the intelligence to ponder his meaning in this life. His parents always told him that he was here for a reason; that he was going to be a great man someday. But so far life was a mess for him.

The first day of school was terrible for him. The students went out of their way to make fun of his skin color. Calling him things like 'mud skin' or 'rotten chocolate'; some even said that he came from poop. He came home from school crying that day.

He sat in the lot behind his house calming himself down. Whatever or whoever sent him here had sent him to the wrong place. Eren sat down beside him in an effort to comfort his little brother.

"They didn't like me either on the first day" Eren said.

"They hate me Eren" Friedrich said solemnly, "this one girl spit in my face just because I said hi".

"Well then they're just idiots then" Eren said with some anger.

Friedrich looked up in shock at what Eren just said. He'd never heard Eren say a bad word like 'idiot' before. Eren noticed that Friedrich was shocked by what he said. He explained that "life was a butt sandwich and we are stuck in between". Friedrich was grossed out by the concept. Eren ruffled his short but tough curly hair.

"Even if you don't have them, you always have me" Eren explained.

Friedrich smiled at what Eren said, and he knew his parents would always love him. He hugged his older brother and thanked him for his support. But that didn't stop the bullying; it came to the point where Friedrich tried to cover himself with flour in an attempt to hide himself. It never worked though.

As time went by, the bullying seemed to calm down a bit, but only a bit. A few became sympathetic with him; but he became so good at hiding that it became hard to interact. He continued to show other abilities. Like the time Friedrich was sitting in the classroom, minding his own business when he learned of another ability.

He was trying to pay attention when he heard a silent scream. It got louder and louder; he also heard children laughing, men shouting, bells ringing and more noises. They got louder until they passed the pain threshold. All these noises flustered him even without the loudness, but they got so loud it was deafening. He looked around to find where the noises where coming from; but what he saw instead where a bunch of skinless humans!

He was horrified by the sight, and the noises where getting out of control. He fell on the ground and started screaming and shaking like he was possessed. The entire classroom looked at him with shock as he was having a seizure on the ground

He finally got up and ran to the closet and locked it. The noises didn't seem to let up despite his quiet sobbing. Soon the whole class crowded around the closet door. He could see through the door, looking at the children as he heard their whispers.

"He's so weird"

"I told you that he was the son of a demon"

"They can't even let him play with the other kids"

The teacher pounded on the door telling him to get out. She tried to grab the doorknob to open it but Friedrich looked at it in anger. The doorknob went almost red hot as the teacher pulled away in pain. They had to call his mother Carla to get him out.

"Can you open the door?" Carla said softly, "how can I help you if you won't let me in?"

"The world's to big mom" Friedrich replied.

"Then make it small. Focus on my voice" said Carla, "Imagine it's an island, out in the ocean. Can you see it?"

Friedrich focused, trying to imagine what his mother had just told him.

"I see it" Friedrich said.

"Then swim towards it honey" replied Carla

Friedrich then opened the closet and ran into his mother's arms. The noises and the skinless people seemed to fade away.

"What's wrong with me mom?" Friedrich asked

"Friedrich, there is nothing wrong with you" Carla replied softly, "You're just very special"

"Well I don't wanna be special" Friedrich said sadly.

"Well, then life would be boring" Carla retorted.

That was quite some time ago. But Friedrich still had more powers to uncover. For instance, he wasn't just strong; he was also fast.

Friedrich was eight and Eren was nine when they went out to the fields outside Shiganshina. They were going to play tag. Eren was it. When Eren charged at Friedrich, instead of watching his little brother run away, he saw a flash and he was gone. Eren searched in desperation for one hour before rushing back to his house. Eren, his father and his mother searched for another five hours for him before they found him. He was crying and sitting against a tree. When he saw them he ran to them to meet their embrace.

"I didn't want to run away!" Friedrich cried with tears streaming down his face, "I didn't know what happened, I just went too fast"

"I know baby, we're here now" Carla cried, trying to speak through her own sobs.

Grisha looked down with wetness in his eyes and decided he'd have had enough; he needed to know the truth. To keep him in the dark any longer would just be cruel. He kneeled down to Friedrich and looked into his dark brown eyes.

"When we get back, I have something to show you" Grisha said.

When they got back to the house, Grisha told Friedrich something.

"Friedrich, your mother and I haven't been honest with you" Grisha said, kind of sniffing a bit.

"What? How" Friedrich asked

"You were adopted" Grisha said

Friedrich looked at his parents in disbelief, but it all made sense. He didn't look like them; he didn't look like anybody in fact. He spent most of his time in the library looking for any evidence that people like him existed; he found none. Who where his parents then?

Eren always suspected that he wasn't his real brother, but hearing his parents say it hit him like a charging bull. He always thought that he had some skin condition. But he didn't care; he was still his brother, no matter what.

"Come; the thing I have to show you is in the basement" Grisha continued.

The family went down to the basement where some science stuff was. The brothers came down here sometimes, just as long as they didn't mess around. Grisha went to a crank and started to turn it. Two doors in the floor opened up as a something covered came up. When it was up, Grisha took the tarp off. What was under it stunned the two boys.

It looked like a peas pod, but metal and had designs on it. It had this huge 'S' shaped symbol on in.

"This is what you came in" Grisha stated, "where we found you"

"But why would I come in this?" asked Friedrich in disbelief

"You came in it because you came from the sky" Grisha said seriously, "you are the answer to the question of 'are we alone in this universe?'"

Friedrich couldn't seem to wrap his head around it. Eren was amazed by the fact that his brother came from the sky, he was always jealous of his strength, but now he envied him, he was like a god. Friedrich looked at his parents in disbelief.

"We're sorry we didn't tell you this sooner, we just wanted to protect you" said Carla still in tears.

"I thought I was your son" Friedrich said about to cry out what little tears he had left.

"You are our son" said Grisha as both him and Carla embraced him, "nothing is going to change that".

Eren held on to the statement that he was his brother too. Looking back, Friedrich went through hell. Eren had a little more sympathy for him. They had always had a sort of one-sided competition; one that Friedrich even admitted that Eren should win for once.

"You know, when you were a baby, your sneezes were enough to knock me on my back" said Grisha, trying to brighten up the mood.

"But will I ever know what is like to be free?" Friedrich asked

"Friedrich, there will be a day when you don't have to hold back; you just have to be wise enough to know when" Grisha answered.

"You both are going to do amazing things one day" Grisha added.

Eren pouted and said, "But he has powers".

"Eren, he has been isolated for almost his whole life, he has a massive burden to carry" Grisha retorted.

"Come on, let's get to bed" Carla stated.

Before Friedrich went to bed, Grisha handed him a small crystal.

"I found this in the pod, think it might belong to you" said Grisha.

Friedrich and Eren both went to bed restless. They had just found something that wasn't just from beyond the walls, but from beyond this world. Their parents instructed them to never share this information. Friedrich lay in bed imagining what his original home looked like. He imagined an angelic realm in the clouds, but why did his original parents send him here. He would find out one day.

In the master bedroom, Grisha was also deep in thought. His son always knew he was different, but now he knew that he was from another world. Grisha was going to try and find someone else who was different. And he knew where to start.

 **So that concludes another chapter. I'm sorry to anyone who was offended by my made up racial slurs (even though their made up), but this is the first time people have seen a black guy, or well at least what looks like a black guy, in over a century. I think it was an appropriate response. And besides, this isn't a white guilt story, it's a coming of age story; Friedrich will find his backbone. And next chapter: we meet Mikasa and Armin. The trio becomes quartet.**


	3. saving Mikasa

Grisha had found it in one of the last remaining members of the Ackerman clan. Apparently he had married the last member of the only other race within the walls. He was of course going on a checkup for them. Mrs. Ackerman belonged to a dead race known as "Orientals"; rumor has it that they come from some eastern land.

He took his two sons along with him on his visit. They lived in the countryside north of Shiganshina district.

"Dad, where are we going again?" asked Eren, who was now ten

"We're going to visit a friend, and he has a daughter about your age" Grisha replied.

"Oh, well, um…" Eren said, before he turned to his younger brother Friedrich, who was now going by Fred just to make it short.

"Do you know why we're going?" Eren whispered

Friedrich shook his head.

"Oh, I have a checkup to make, I think you and his daughter are going to get along just fine" Grisha explained.

"But dad; we're boys, we do boy things, and she's a girl who does girl things" Eren complained.

"I guess you'll just have to deal with it" Grisha replied.

There was an awkward silence before Eren decided to strike up a conversation with Friedrich.

"Hey Fred, did you know if you say some one is bad at something then you must be perfect at it" Eren said with the upmost confidence.

"… What?" Friedrich answered in confusion

"If you say some one is bad at something, then you must be perfect at it" Eren explained.

"So is if someone is bad at something… you have to be good at it?" said Friedrich

"Yes" answered Eren.

"What if they're just really bad at something?" Friedrich asked

"Then you must be perfect at it" Eren replied.

"That doesn't make any sense, like if someone bakes a cake and it always comes out burnt, then they are just bad, we don't need to be cake judges to know that" Friedrich reasoned.

"Yeah but it's hypocritical" Eren explained.

"So, they always burn the cake, so they can't bake good" Friedrich countered.

"They can't bake **well** , Friedrich" Grisha corrected.

Eren was kind of taken aback by his little brother's argument. Usually he always corrected him on whatever wrong thing he said. Even though Fred had superhuman abilities, Eren had always prides himself as being the brains and willpower of the duo. It helped with this jealousy that he couldn't seem to get rid of. Eren decided to change the subject.

"Fred, what do you think lies beyond the walls?" Eren asked

Grisha sighed, they really liked to talk about this, but it was an endangerment to their safety.

"Maybe a world like this one" Friedrich answered solemnly, "I wanna know what lies beyond the sky".

The three paused for a moment. The fact that Friedrich came from the sky was something they initially were uncomfortable believing, but have come to accept it. But his origin was more a mystery than what lied beyond the walls. It could mean that there could be whole worlds out there among the stars. It was a concept that was hard to grasp, but one could imagine. Friedrich had drawn pictures of what his original home would have looked like ever since he found out the truth.

At first he didn't want to believe, but then his curiosity got the better of him. Unlike his family who have accepted it, he didn't know who he was, and he wanted to find out.

The trio continued on their way in deep thought, but Friedrich heard something. It sounded like a woman screaming, and it was coming from the direction they were going!

"Dad, I think they are in trouble" Friedrich declared

"Who?" Grisha asked with concern

"The people we are going to visit" Friedrich answered with some fear in his heart.

Grisha knew that Friedrich could hear thing from miles away, he's even tested it. He once told Friedrich to repeat a poem Grisha was going to recite. Grisha rode off to the next town and recited the poem. When he returned, Friedrich could repeat it word for word. Something was wrong.

"Come on, we have to hurry up" Grisha ordered before going up to a jog.

Eren didn't know if he could run that far, but someone was in trouble, he would have to try.

 _A bit earlier:_

"Ow" Mikasa whined.

Mrs. Ackerman was stitching in a pattern into her daughter: Mikasa's wrist. It was a beautiful symbol with intricate stripes and lines. It was the mark of Mikasa's people on her mother's side.

"This brand must be passed down from generation to generation in our family" Mrs. Ackerman explained as she tenderly wrapped the cloth around Mikasa's wrist, "when you have a child, you'll bequeath it to him or her"

"Unh… it hurts" Mikasa complained.

"You're holding up well, Mikasa" Mrs. Ackerman said softly.

"How can I have a child?" Mikasa asked

"Err… why don't you ask your father that" Mrs. Ackerman said clearly trying to avoid the question.

As if on que, Mr. Ackerman entered the room.

"Honey, why don't you tell your daughter about the birds and the bees" Mrs. Ackerman suggested.

"Yeah daddy, tell me!" Mikasa cheered

"Well, um, I'm not an, um, expert on the subject, but you know what, that nice doctor Jaeger is scheduled to make a visit so you can talk to him" Mr. Ackerman answered clearly caught off guard.

Mikasa frowned and scratched an itch on her head. She had long silky black hair, a trait she inherited from her mother. also inherited from her mother was her almond shaped eyes that made her look almost as if she were squinting. but unlike her mother, who had a slightly flatter face and slightly broader nose, Mikasa had had a nose and face more similar to her father, and everyone else. a slightly less flat face and slightly more pointed nose than he mother.

Rain started to pick up outside. but not long after, two knocks could be heard.

"Heh hey, speak of the devil" Mr. Ackerman jeered.

The knocking continued as Mr. Ackerman went to answer the door. He was about to greet them when a knife planted itself in his gut. Mr. Ackerman looked down to the knife before his life slipped away and he fell to the ground with a loud 'thump'. It revealed three men standing at the doorway. Both of the female Ackerman's looked up in shock at the men standing at the doorway.

"Sorry, I hope we're not interrupting" said the man in the front with a chilling voice.

Mrs. Ackerman was horrified but knew what she had to do. She slowly reached for the scissors in preparation.

"Alright, let's take this nice and slow, I'd rather not split any skulls open" said one of the men raising an axe.

She then rushed at him with the scissors. The man managed to grab ahold of Mrs. Ackerman as they struggled.

"RUN MIKASA! RUN AWAY FROM HERE AS FAST AS YOU CAN!" Mrs. Ackerman screamed in despair

"Mommy, your scarring me!" yelped Mikasa

"I want you to be scared!" Mrs. Ackerman screamed once more as she struggled with the man

Mikasa looked around amidst the chaos. She saw her father's lifeless body and her mother struggling for her life against this stranger. It filled her with fear that she had never felt, a fear of the unknown coming into existence. All of a sudden she heard a scream. She saw her mother falling to the ground with blood gushing out her neck. She finally realized the gravity of the situation.

She heard men yelling, but she didn't focus on them, only on her now dead parents. Fear crept into the darkest parts of her soul. Her parents were now… dead. The man walked over her mother's dead corpse. He picked her up and said "hey, let's not give me any attitude okay; if you feel feisty, you get this" the man said before he knocked her out.

They then carried her off to their hideout. It was about 30 more minutes before the jaegers arrived. They had tried to run there, but it proved to be too much. Friedrich could have done it but Grisha refused to let him go in alone.

They arrived there panting. In desperation, Grisha started pounding on the door yelling "Mr. Ackerman! Are you there! Mr. Ackerman!" there was no answer.

Friedrich looked though the walls with his x-ray vision and instantly vomited. He saw dead bodies; it was something he just couldn't take. He fell on his knees; strangely, he didn't feel like crying, he felt something else. It felt much worse.

"Friedrich! What's the matter!?" Grisha asked

But Friedrich didn't answer, though fear was clearly in his eyes. Grisha then opened the door and was greeted by a revolting sight.

"So are they there!?" Eren asked in desperation

Grisha remained silent for a few moments before entering the cabin. He checked everywhere for signs of the daughter who was now missing. Eren stood at the door. He saw the dead bodies, their lifeless eyes, and the blood. He was filled with fear, disgust and then rage.

"Oh god no, I need to alert the military police about this" Grisha said in a shaky voice, "Fred! Eren! Wait for me at the edge of the mountain! Swear to me!"

Both Eren and Friedrich remained silent but obliged. They marched down the mountain with the rain pouring down like mini-cannonballs. But as soon as Grisha was out of sight, Eren turned to Friedrich.

"Fred, tell me where they are going" Eren demanded.

"What? But da-" Friedrich was cut off.

"Where are they going" Eren said with more gravity in his tone.

"WHERE ARE THEY GOING?!" Eren shouted

Friedrich jumped back in fright. He now feared his brother. Something was wrong with him; his eyes seemed to show no emotion yet he sensed this aura a rage within him. Tears started to roll down Friedrich's cheeks and his lips started to quiver. But Eren paid no attention to his younger brother's sorrow.

Despite all this, Friedrich clenched his eyes shut and listened. He took slow breaths to calm himself down, to focus. He cancelled out the pouring rain and listened to the forest. He heard many things but nothing noteworthy came. He focused harder and he heard some human voices among the other things. He zeroed in on them. While it wasn't quite clear but he could make out some men arguing on how they shouldn't have killed her and how much they were going to sell her. It was them.

Eren patiently waited for an answer. Friedrich pointed towards the ridge of a mountain. At that, Eren dashed off, leaving Friedrich alone in the rain.

Eren dashed through the forest, leaping over logs and leaves. The mud wasn't going to slow him down. As he ran, adrenaline pumped through his veins, growing angrier and angrier.

'Those animals are going to pay!' Eren thought to himself, 'they murdered innocent people '

Then something snapped in him. A new type of anger rushed through him, filling his primal desires with bloodlust.

"I AM GOING TO KILL THEM ALL!" Eren shouted

No longer will he be shackled by moral codes. Nothing to obstruct true justice. Those animals would pay with their life! And he, Eren would bring hell upon them.

Then he thought of his little brother, the way he looked at him with fear. Then it all became so clear to him; his brother, despite all his great power, was weak. Tormented all his life and he did nothing but stand there and do nothing! He could lift heavy boulders over his head, run faster than a horse and nothing could hurt him. But his cowardice made him vulnerable, when he could have ruled over them. Eren would not make that mistake.

Even with the strength that his brother had, Eren now knew he was stronger. He would do what his brother never could. And that was bringing justice.

He ran up the slippery ridge, taking care not to slip. When he reached the top of the ridge, he saw a large cabin. He knew it was them. Eren reached down into his pocket to grab a knife. He stared at the silver blade as it cast a reflection upon him. He devised a plan on how he would kill those pigs. There was no turning back.

Within the large cabin:

Mikasa lied on the floor tied up with a bloody lip. She looked out the window to a cold rainy sky, which made sense because it was cold. She didn't know what to make of the world anymore. Everything she knew was gone. It was cold, but her soul felt colder.

"Uh huh, all I'm sayin' is she better go for a decent price" said one man, "I didn't get blood on my hands for nothing".

"Look at her face and tell me what she's worth" another said.

The first man turned her over with his foot and examined her features.

"Sure she's cute and all but just young, wouldn't go for her myself" said he.

"Then I guess we're lucky you're not the one we're selling to" said the other man, "there are plenty of folks who would pay premium for her; she's exotic, what they used to call an oriental, you know about that right? When there were still a bunch of different people, a bunch of them from the east came scramblin' here for safety; the old perverts in the capitol really go for that sort of thing, this little beauty is going to fetch a mint at auction. It's great business, she's the last of her kind, all the rest of em' died out"

"Tell me another one, it's not like she's a pureblood or anything; her old man wasn't oriental" the other man replied.

The first one stomped his feet on the ground in anger.

"Good point there! The mother would have been a nice addition! Right?! Too bad she's in pieces" the other man shouted

"Give me a break, what was I supposed to do, she was putting up a fight!" the first man retorted

"So you couldn't have just knocked her unconscious!" the other shouted

'It's so cold' Mikasa thought, but then, she heard the door open

Back at the foot of the mountain, a bit earlier:

Friedrich stood there in the rain. His older brother had just left him. He didn't know what to think. Emotionally exhausted, he sat down. The rain and clouds fitted his mood. He just couldn't wrap his head around why anyone would do such a thing. Then he heard someone shout "I'm going to kill them all!"

He knew it was Eren. Friedrich was taken aback by this; Eren was always headstrong sure, but killing. It was like being told the titans could break through the walls. But he thought to himself; do they deserve death? No! No one deserved death. But they killed two people and kidnapped a kid. Would two wrongs make a right?

Friedrich pondered these questions. But then he realized something. Maybe they could still face justice and not get killed, but instead get locked away where they belong. After all, Friedrich possessed abilities no one else could dream of.

A little sliver of hope found its way to Friedrich's heart. Instead of squandering his abilities and constantly have to hide them, he would use them to help mankind. Maybe even retake the land outside the walls.

Friedrich stood up and looked onward to his destination. Then he dashed up the mountain.

He went faster than any horse ever could, some could say that he look like a little brown blur. A little more hope went into his heart with the realization that he was going to save someone.

When he got to the ridge, he saw the cabin. some of the wood was rotten, the rain making the tree's leaves turn a bluish green. He used his binocular vision to zoom in through the window. There! The girl. But then he heard a voice, a voice he recognized as Eren. He heard s little conversation between two of them; not sure what about. Then he heard a faint gargle and then a 'plonk'. Has his brother died? The reality was just as terrifying.

Soon after there was screaming and some noises he hears at a butcher shop. The next words came from Eren.

"YOU'RE AN ANIMAL YOU HEAR ME!" Eren shouted, "YOU'RE A DISEASE! THIS IS WHAT YOU GET YOU SON OF A BITCH! THIS IS WHAT YOU GET FOR BEING WHAT YOU ARREE! DIE! DIIEE!"

Friedrich couldn't believe what he was hearing. His brother was murdering, shouting like a psychopath. The little hope within him had died. His own brother doing what they did, murdering in cold blood. He was horrified. Little tears trickled down his cheeks once more. He simply couldn't believe it.

But then he heard another scuffle. He zoomed in with his binocular vision and activated his X-ray vision. He saw his brother being choked out by a man! He also saw the girl now free. Hut he also heard Eren say: "fight, kill or be killed, fight for your life, it's- it's the only way, the only way to live is to fight".

As much as Fred hated to admit it, he was right. There was still time to do it; to save all of them. But he didn't know if he could do it, or how he could do it. However, this was no time for self-doubt, it was time to act. He took a deep breath and charged towards the cabin.

He heard a large boom behind him as he dashed towards the cabin, he felt it too, and he knew he had caused it. Time seemed to slow down. But the cabin was still approaching, and approaching fast too. Friedrich tried to stop but instead crashed into the cabin.

He busted through the wooden wall; luckily, the wall took most of the force because he slammed into the man with much less force than the wall. The man that was chocking Eren flew across the room and was knocked unconscious.

He felt something pinned against his chest. He turned to see the girl from before. Mikasa as his father said. She had a knife against his chest; the handle was broken and the blade was bent a bit. She looked dead into his eyes. Her eyes were a dark shade of gray, and he saw a distinct kind of coldness within them. She didn't show it, but he could still detect faint traces of fear.

She took two steps back dropped the knife before falling to her knees and sitting down. She looked down and didn't say a word.

Friedrich looked over to the dead bodies and then to Eren. Fred had the look of disbelief in his eyes. How could Eren so this. Eren looked back at him. He had a light scowl. All three sat there in silence until Grisha and the M.P arrived.

Later, at night time. The Jaegers had made a campfire at the cabin. Grisha found the fact that his son Eren had murdered just as hard to believe as Friedrich.

"Damnit son, I made it very clear that I wanted you to wait at the foot of the mountain; do you have any idea of the magnitude of what you've done here today!" Grisha scolded

"Sorry dad, but I'm not going to feel bad for what happened" Eren hissed, "they were animals disguised as humans who needed to be put down"

"Listen to yourself!" shouted Grisha

"By the time the military police had gotten there, they would have been long gone and you know it!" Eren shouted back, "we couldn't afford to wait"

"That's not what I'm arguing about!" Grisha shouted, "you through caution to the wind and survived by pure luck! You're strong yes, but you're too damn young to be so casual about gambling with your life"

"But I didn't know how else I was supposed to save her" Eren said now saddened.

Grisha softened up a bit and stood up and walk over to Mikasa.

"Mikasa, remember me? We met a few times before when you were just a tiny little thing" Grisha said soothingly.

"Yes Dr. Jaeger" Mikasa replied in a quiet and tired tone, "sorry, but can you just tell me how to get home, it's cold, I'm tired, there's nowhere else for me to go"

Grisha and Eren gave her a solemn look before Eren walked up to here taking his scarf off. He wrapped it around her. It was a plain red scarf but it kept anyone warm.

"Don't worry, can keep it; that oughtah' keep you warm, right?" Eren said softly

Mikasa looked down in sadness, but the gift was much appreciated. It felt as if the scarf had melted some of the ice in her heart.

"I think so" Mikasa replied weakly.

"Mikasa, how would you feel about coming to live with us?" Grisha asked

"W-what?" Mikasa asked surprised

"I can't even imagine what you've been through, but I do know you need your share of rest" Grisha said softly.

Mikasa looked as if she was about to break into tears.

"What's the problem? Don't think about it, just come on" Eren said grabbing her hand, "we gotta get home"

"Y-yeah, okay" said Mikasa shedding a tear.

But she couldn't feel that something was missing. She looked over to where Friedrich was sitting at the edge of the woods.

Grisha looked over Friedrich. Sure he had busted to the wall, but he managed to capture one of the human traffickers. His other associates could now be tracked down as they suspect it's a larger ring.

"Come Fred, it's time to go home" Grisha called out.

Friedrich stood up and walk over to where the others were standing at. Mikasa had never seen someone like him. His skin was dark and he managed to but through a wall. She had stabbed him but the knife did not pierce him. She wondered; what was he?

"Mikasa, this is my son, Friedrich" Grisha introduced

"Hi, my name is Friedrich" Friedrich said softly and sticking his hand out, "but you can call me Fred".

She accepted his handshake. It felt strong, like he could easily crush her hand. But at the same time, it felt limp somehow.

With that, they walked home. While they walked, curiosity took over Mikasa and she asked Friedrich something.

"What are you Fred?" Mikasa asked

"I don't know" Friedrich answered.

"That question will be answered once we get home" Grisha answered.

Once they got home. Carla was deeply upset of what Eren had done and catered to Mikasa's every need. She felt bad for her, but at the same time was glad that she had a daughter now. And Mikasa fared worse. She was once a cheery girl, but now almost never talks, and it was a phase she never grew out of. But she still had compassion. She still cared deeply for Eren, sometimes crying remembering what he had done for her. And Friedrich filled her with wonder, and his personality was more tolerable than his brother's head strong. The two were almost like polar opposites. But she still enjoyed spending time with the two. But over time, she learned to control he emotions, so she couldn't show it. And she always wore that red scarf.

As for Eren and Friedrich, it took months to repair their relationship, even made his own friend, named Armin. he was a small blonde boy with blue eyes and a fascination for the natural world. But before that, the Jaegers revealed Friedrich's secret to Mikasa.

They took her down to the basement while the other two were gone on an errand.

"What is all this?" Mikasa asked

"This is all my equipment, but that's, why we brought you down here" Grisha explained.

"You know Fred, with all his abilities" Carla said, "well; he's not from this world"

Mikasa was taken aback. They couldn't be serious.

"W-what?" Mikasa asked

Grisha cranked up chain that opened up a hole in the floor. And up came an object. It looked like a white metal pea pod, with and intricate 'S' shaped symbol on it.

"What is that?" she asked now filled with wonder

"It's what he came in" Grisha spoke up.

"You can go ask him for yourself" Carla suggested, "but you have to swear not to tell another soul, or they'll take him away, never to be seen again"

Mikasa nodded understanding the consequences. She studied the craft. She could have never imagined this or her adopted brother came from the stars. But then again, he looked like everyone else, sure his skin was much darker, but he still looked somewhat similar. She herself knew that she and he mother were not the same as everyone else. They were persecuted because of that.

She had seen the torment he received because of what he looked like. And even though she looked different, she never received that much of it. In a way, she had more sympathy and empathy for him than anyone else.

So she asked him what he was herself, later at night. Friedrich was outside looking at the stars with deep longing. Out there laid his origins, his identity, and it frustrated him that he couldn't reach it. The sky was like a wall protecting them from nothing. She walked outside and sat beside him.

"Is it true that you come from the stars?" Mikasa asked in her signature nonchalant voice

"Um, what?" asked Friedrich before he realized the question

"Well, that was what I was told" Friedrich answered, "I've always wondered what was out there, beyond the walls, beyond the sky"

Mikasa didn't seem to answer, so Friedrich talked some more.

"You know, you also look pretty different to, your eyes always look like they're squinting" Friedrich said

Mikasa gave him an unemotional look. He had lost the ability to read her emotions.

"But that's okay, I was called the chocolate baby for a long time and still am" Friedrich explained, "it's really nice to have another 'different' person around".

Mikasa finally smiled a bit. Fred had succeeded.

"Well, my people have long since been wiped out, all I know is that they came from the far east" Mikasa explained, "but you're from the sky, my ancestor's land seems puny compared to yours".

"Well I wouldn't say that" Friedrich retorted.

Mikasa unrolled her sleeve showing a marking on the wrist. Friedrich studied it.

"This is the marking of my people" Mikasa said a bit solemnly.

"Oh, uh, cool" said Friedrich, "Kind of looks like a flowing river".

"Really?" Mikasa asked a little cheered up

"Yeah" Friedrich answered, "but tonight, let's look at the stars"

Friedrich, who had gained a huge interest in astronomy, had learned almost all the star and constellations in the sky. The rest of the night was spent showing Mikasa the stars and showing her constellations, and the story they told.

 **And that's a wrap. Hope you guys enjoyed. And if you guys are wondering when the breach is going to happen, it's going to happen in chapter six. I wanna spend next chapter developing the aesthetic of Fred, Eren, Mikasa and Armin so I can depict their relationship as well as possible. So yeah… R &R.**


	4. the job part 1

**Hello sheeple, this is Iron Weevil back to you with another chapter. Dear God, I sound like a youtuber (YouTube heroes is a mistake, Jon said this would happen but did we listen? No) not that I have anything against YouTube (besides its bullsh*t fair use policy). So anyways, I'm going to use this chapter to further develop Friedrich's character (which at this point is actually quite boring) and develop the relationship between team FEMA (yes them calling it that. I need to stop using parenthesis). So get some chocolate milk and enjoy. Unless you're allergic, then get something else, like orange juice.**

It was a sunny day and Friedrich was walking through a grassy field. There were children playing. The children were like him, having a darker skin tone and in the back round one could see tall shiny buildings. Friedrich sat down and looked at all that lay before him, and he was happy. This was his home. A happy place.

"Friedrich!" called a voice

Friedrich immediately looked up and ran to the voice. It must have been his parents. As he got closer he could see two people, a man and a woman. They both had skin as brown as his and curly brown hair.

"It's time for lunch, I made you're favorite: honey cake!" said the woman

'Nice' Friedrich thought.

"Where's Eren?" asked Friedrich

"Who's Eren?" asked the man

"My Brother of course!" Friedrich declared

"Oh is he?" said the man in a haunting voice

Friedrich's face changed from that of happiness to that of horror. The man was no longer that of his "father" but now had a pale complexion. He wore a hat and had stubble with blood dripping down his face. It was one of Mikasa's Kidnappers! The whole setting changed to one of a dark cabin.

The man slumped over to reveal his killer. That killer was Eren Jaeger, brother to Friedrich Jaeger. Fred could only look in shock at Eren's maniacal expression. His hands were soiled with blood. Then Eren looked at Fred.

"W-why would you do that?" Fred asked in disbelief

"He was an animal, he deserved to die" Eren said in an enraged tone, "death will come to them all and all who stand in my way!"

The knife in Eren's hands flashed green as he charged towards Fred. Fred knew he was invulnerable, but something about that green knife made him feel weak. And it scared him. Eren closed in on him and all Fred could do is stare at the madman. It was almost surreal and terrifying at the same time.

Fred then woke up panting. It was all just a dream. Fred sighed in relief. He had been having nightmares ever since that has happened. He and Eren had become increasingly distant since then. His relationship to Mikasa has stayed the same and he has become good friends with a boy named Armin, who was Eren's best friend. He, Eren and Armin had become like a trio of outcasts, bound together by that very fact. The addition of Mikasa could have made it possible for it to become a quartet, but the two brothers were too distant.

Friedrich got up from his bed and looked out the window. It was early, but the sun was out. Fred liked the sun; it seemed to give him a boost of energy whenever he came in contact with it. He sat back down on his bed and contemplated the dream.

His family wasn't very religious, and teaching of the bible had been outlawed because it taught about a world outside the walls. He, however, managed to find a copy of the bible. Filled with uplifting verses and wisdom of an era when all humanity had to fear was each other. He was one told that true forgiveness came when you accept when you've been hurt and forgive the offender truly and restore the relationship with the person. But he couldn't bring himself to forgive such a heinous act.

That day changed him. It taught him the value of life, as well as the fact that the world wasn't black and white. He sometimes questioned whether Eren's act was justified, if the man truly deserved death. It had been months since they had interacted normally. His parents were extremely concerned, but he managed to slip by.

He took a deep breath and thought about the verse he read. It was hard to do, but he was his brother, he kind of had no choice. besides, it wasn't like it was going to stay like this forever, he just needed the right push.

That day also changed his personality a bit. His naivety had ended a long time ago with the children who tormented him (and still do) but he always had a positive outlook on life. He brimmed with a sort of childlike innocence that his brother had long lost. Ever since that day, Fred had become a bit more cynical. He still had a heart of gold and had a strong moral compass, but he lost the innocence that came with it.

He missed that innocence. But he gained more wisdom in losing it. Eren had scarred him that day, but he was still his brother and he had to forgive him. Those men where monsters, and Eren had no other choice, perhaps it was at least a bit justified he thought.

It was done. It had taken him almost a year, but he had finally forgiven him. Now for the easy part: the restoration.

Then he just remembered! Tomorrow was Mikasa's birthday. He had made her a small metal ogre. He walked over to a table in his room. On it laid a small metal object. The ogre was very crude, but you could still make out a face and small tube-like ears; it was also painted green. he could just imagine it coming to life and saying, "this is mah swamp!"

He had finished last night and was planning to wrap it up for a present. He just needed something to wrap it up. There was a piece of paper in his room; it would do.

After he was done with the small task, he exited his room and headed towards the kitchen.

He was greeted by his mother and Mikasa preparing breakfast. It was a modest breakfast of two eggs and a slice of ham. Friedrich didn't mind, the older he got, the less food he seemed to need.

"Good morning sunshine" said Carla in a cheerful mood.

"Good morning" Fred replied

"You sleep well?" Carla asked

"Eh, I guess" Friedrich answered

"Oh, I need you to take out the trash" Carla said.

Friedrich sighed, he just sat down. But he didn't resist. He got up and grabbed the large trash bucket and walked outside. He came out the back door and walked over to a large trash bin. As he was dumping the garbage into the bin, a rock flew over to him and hit him in the head. It came from this teenager named James Jonah Jameson. He was the leader of this gang of other teenage boys who had nothing else to do and went around being wannabe criminals.

"Hey mud skin! You think your momma would give me a quickie if I paid her enough?" James said mockingly. His goons doing the dumb "tee-hee" laugh.

"Go die in a hole!" Friedrich said unimpressed

With that, he walked up to the back door. As he reached for the doorknob, he heard James speak out of his wounded pride.

"What did you just say to me?!" James said walking up to him

Friedrich now stood a bit taller than his brother, but not as tall as James and most of his goons.

"I told you to go die in a hole" Friedrich said casually, "now go die in a hole".

"Look, I don't care if you have a girl living with you now" James said darkly, "but I'm not going to take any bullshit from a deformity like you".

"You don't know half the story" Friedrich said

"Oh, please tell me the story" James said sarcastically.

Friedrich quickly reached behind him and opened the door. The door creaked open revealing the kitchen. Carla looked up at the door.

"Hey mom, I have a friend of mine here with me that's just dying to ask you a question" said Friedrich.

Carla walked over to the door and opened the door even further. She knew who those hoodlums were. One of them even had a knife.

"What is that question?" asked Carla, playing along with Fred's game

James' goons looked at him to see what he would say next. He simply stood there staring at Friedrich Jaeger with a scowl. It suddenly turned into a smirk.

"Oh you just wait until mommy isn't around to protect you" James warned.

"So you think you can't handle my mom?" Friedrich asked

James' goons started laughing with their signature "tee-hee" laugh.

"Shut up" he hissed at his goons.

"Get off my property" Carla said with venom in her voice.

James spit at Friedrich's feet and walked off with his goons trailing him. Friedrich walked back in when his mother started to question him.

"What was that?" Carla asked worriedly

Friedrich breathed a sigh of relief; the whole ordeal was nerve racking. He was glad he couldn't sweat, because if he could, he would be sweating like a pig.

"you know them" Friedrich said," those who prey on the weak"

'But I'm not weak' Friedrich thought

"Well, I don't want you to ever associating with them" said Carla

"They don't really seem to like me anyway" Friedrich said.

Friedrich looked over to the sink and saw Mikasa staring at him, though when he looked at her, she quickly looked away. He heard footstep coming from upstairs and turned to see his brother walking down. He let out a large yawn and sat down.

"Good morning sweetie" Carla chirped, "Did you sleep well?"

Eren rubbed his eyes. "I-I guess so".

Mikasa got his plate and served him as well as herself. The three sat down and quietly ate. Carla decided to break the uneasy silence.

"Um, boys, I'm gonna need you two to head down to the market and get some food after this" said Carla

Eren sighed, but Friedrich was exited. This was his opportunity to finally repair his and Eren's relationship.

"So, Mikasa" Friedrich started, "are you excited for you birthday tomorrow?"

He saw Eren uncomfortably flinch. Mikasa looked up at him with her dark, steel gray eyes, she seemed to show a bit of sadness, but then smiled.

"Yeah" Mikasa said nodding, "I am".

There was an uncomfortable silence; Mikasa was not a conversation person. She usually followed him and Eren around and only spoke to give her thoughts on certain things that they talked about. And right now Eren seemed supremely uncomfortable.

Eren got up and asked Carla for the money, and she gave it to him. He then grabbed Friedrich by the collar and dragged him to the door.

"Why are you leaving now?" Carla shouted, "you didn't finish your food!"

Eren ignored her as he pulled a very surprised Friedrich out the door and slammed it shut. Friedrich composed himself and tore himself free.

"What the heck was that for?!" Friedrich hissed

"It's not safe to talk here" Eren whispered before running into an ally to the right of the house. Friedrich simply walked over to the alleyway. Before he could reach the corner, he was pulled into it by Eren. Friedrich's reflexes were simply unmatched, but he didn't do anything as he was pulled into the alleyway.

Eren was holding onto Friedrich and looking him dead in the eye.

"Look, Fred, I need your help" Eren said quietly. Friedrich took a moment before answering.

"H-help with what?" he asked, almost bewildered

Eren sighed. "I don't have a birthday present for Mikasa" he said with a bit of frustration.

"Oh, um, okay" Friedrich said plainly.

Eren let out a huge sigh of relief.

"I was afraid you were still mad at me be-" Eren stopped suddenly

"I've actually been meaning to talk to you about that" said Friedrich.

The silence continued.

"Let's just go" Friedrich said, "let's go to Armin's, he's smart, I'm sure he'll have something"

Eren nodded and they went off to Armin's house. But they needed to talk about it. It was something that was tearing them apart, something brothers should never do.

"Eren" started Friedrich.

"Yeah?" Eren responded.

"I've been thinking it over, and I've decided" Friedrich hesitated.

"I forgive you" Friedrich finished.

"Fred, what else was I supposed to do?" Eren replied

There was a silence.

"I don't know" Friedrich said sorrowfully, "but that day, something snapped within you, it released something that horrified me"

The two stopped walking.

"You avenged Mikasa's parents, but you did something else" Friedrich continued, "you murdered in cold blood, I saw it in your eyes, the bloodlust. They may have deserved it, but you lost something"

Eren stayed silent. Deep in thought, he hung his head down.

'What is it that I lost?' he thought

He then repeated it, this time out loud.

"You lost part of your humanity" Friedrich, "remember what dad said? 'Be careful when fighting monsters that you don't become one yourself; for when you look into the abyss, the abyss looks back at you"

Eren looked up, kind of sorry.

"But we are brothers, so I have to forgive you" Friedrich concluded.

"Come on, let's just go" Eren spoke up.

And the two continued on their way to Armin's house in silence.

When they reached Armin's house they were greeted by his mother. They asked if he was home. He was, upstairs specifically. The two then walked into the house.

The house had some well-done paintings and there were bookshelves filled with, well, books. Armin's father was a teacher at the local secondary school.

They passed Armin's grandfather, who was sitting on a chair reading a book on birds. He looked up and stared curiously at Friedrich before looking back down. It gave Fred the heebie-jeebies.

The two continued into Armin's room in the attic. Armin's room was a science kid's wonderland, somewhat at least. He had his own telescope, books on almost any subject and maps of land in the walls as well as those that speculated what it was like outside. Armin was working on a clock when the two came in.

"Hey Armin" said Eren.

"Oh, uh, hey guys, what brings you here?" said Armin looking up from his work.

"A need for help" Eren replied.

"Help for what?" Armin asked

"He forgot to get Mikasa a present" Friedrich explained plainly.

"Oh" Armin answered.

"And it's tomorrow" Friedrich added.

"Wait; its tomorrow?!" Armin said almost falling out of his chair

"Yeah" Friedrich replied

"That's why we need your help" Eren explained

"How could I help?" Armin asked

"Well you're pretty smart, we could put our heads together and figure something out" Friedrich explained.

"Oh, well, um okay" said Armin, slightly flustered at the compliment that Fred gave him.

"So let's think, what does Mikasa like?" Armin thought out loud

"Well, she likes being with us" said Eren.

"Something that we can give her" Armin specified.

The three thought. Eren was thinking the hardest of all. He remembered something. It happened about a week ago.

 _Mikasa and Eren were walking down the market district. They passed this one stand. But something caught Mikasa's attention. In that stall was a long knife. The handle was long and had this intricate wrap around it. The blade was curved and the tip was more rounded. Mikasa recognized that design. Her mother told her stories about these warriors from antiquity that wielded swords similar to that dagger._

 _Eren looked back at Mikasa and saw the dagger to. He liked the look of it but his mother would never let him play with knives. The two continued on their way._

Eren got an idea. But meanwhile Friedrich was also figuring something out.

 _Friedrich and Mikasa were out on a field at night. Friedrich was tracking the movement of the stars. Eren had no interest in this so he usually didn't join him in this. Mikasa had taken a keen interest in astronomy thanks to him. And of course Armin joined him in his astronomical escapade, but he wasn't here that night._

 _A spyglass served as a telescope for him, but with Fred's literal binocular vision, it may as well have been. On the ground lay a large star map laid across a large piece of wood. Mikasa had finished plotting down Polaris._

" _Mikasa, have you plotted the ones down?" Friedrich asked_

" _Yeah, but why are there stars next to Polaris that I don't see in the sky?" Mikasa asked_

 _She talked the same way all the time, without emotions. When he talked to her about stars, her eyes were filled with wonder, but she never seem to show any enthusiasm when she spoke, it was like she was happy, but not happy at the same time. It kind of bummed him out._

" _Because those are too far away to see with the naked eye" Friedrich answered._

 _Mikasa thought of that for a moment. That would mean that the stars were not just a globe around the earth, but more like an atmosphere._

" _I wish we had a telescope" Mikasa said quietly, but Friedrich heard it anyways with his super-duper eavesdropping ears._

" _If I could figure out the distance of the nearest star, I can figure the size of the universe" Friedrich continued._

 _Ever since he found out his origins, he knew that the universe was much larger than previously thought. That led him to believe in a more heliocentric view of the universe. This meant that the sun was just a star and that there could be worlds beyond the world beyond the walls. His world was somewhere up there, though he doubted he could ever find it._

 _He walked over to the star map and took a look at the he surveyed the map he took some measurements. It appears that he has reached a conclusion. At that moment, a stupid grin appeared on his face._

' _So it moves at 1 centimeter per month' he thought._

" _Mikasa! I've figured it out! The motion of the sky!" Friedrich shouted out loud_

 _He ran towards Mikasa and picked her, then spun around in joy. Mikasa felt her face flush red at the action. It didn't last long, as he let go of her and she flew off and landed on the cool green grass a few feet away. Friedrich threw his hands up in the air and started doing a strange dance that would one day be known as the cabbage patch; that's right, he was the first to ever do it._

 _Mikasa couldn't help but smile at his happiness. He stopped abruptly and turned to Mikasa._

" _K, it's time to head back" Friedrich stated simply._

 _As the two were heading back to Shiganshina district, they were met halfway by Armin._

" _Hey Armin, I found out what the motion of the sky is!" Friedrich said excitedly_

 _Armin was almost out of breath, and he was carrying a book too._

" _Fred, I have some bad news" Armin panted_

" _W-what?" Friedrich replied now kind of worried_

" _We, we've been measuring it wrong" Armin responded, "the sky moves at 15 degrees per year, I've done the math, we're way off"_

 _Armin handed him the book. It had the actual figure and the math behind it. The math matched up. They were way off._

 _Friedrich took a deep breath and held the bridge of his nose. He asked God 'why?' 'Why me, why the number?'_

 _He then motioned Mikasa to follow him home. It was way past their bed time anyways. Friedrich now had the same expression Mikasa always had._

Friedrich stopped thinking there for a moment and glared at Armin. Sure he was shooting the messenger, but that was not a good night in his opinion. But he got an idea, Mikasa wanted a telescope.

Armin was thinking of when he met Fred. It was interesting per say. His skin color of course surprised him, but he got over it. But what Armin can't get over are his abilities and his origin. When he found out, they made him swear to never speak of it to anybody, even his parents. Armin agreed, but it still fascinated him; even to the point where it could be considered that Friedrich stole Eren's best friend for a time.

Armin noticed Friedrich glaring at him. He felt fear creep over him as a powerful being stared daggers into him.

"Um" Armin gulped.

"Wai-what?" Friedrich said quickly losing his angry expression.

"Why were-" Armin was cut off.

"No reason" Friedrich said quickly.

"Guys, I know what to get her!" Eren exclaimed

"Okay, lay it on us" Friedrich requested.

"Okay, so Mikasa and I were walking in the market one day, and then she stops for some reason" Eren explained, "I saw what it was; it was some kind of weird knife, and when I asked her what it was, she said it was something she remembered it from somewhere"

"Yeah, but it might be gone by now" Armin added.

"Well, I was thinking to get her a telescope" Friedrich suggested.

"Fred, I think you mean one for yourself" Eren said sarcastically.

"No no, I mean; well one night Mikasa and I were out watching the stars right?" Friedrich began, "And I heard her say 'I want a telescope'"

"You remember that night, don't you Armin" Friedrich said with a tint of venom in his voice.

Armin simply nodded cautiously. Eren thought about it for a bit, and then came to conclusion.

"You want it for yourself" said Eren.

"No I don't" Friedrich replied, "and besides, the knife is probably gone by now"

"Guys, why don't we go and check for the knife, and if it isn't there, we'll go and get a telescope" suggested Armin.

Fred and Eren looked at each other for a moment before looking back at Armin and nodding.

"Okay, then it's settled" Armin proclaimed, "let's go".

With that, the three boys went off to the market district. They passed multiple merchants trying to sell their junk. One product caught Friedrich's attention called the Shamwooh! ™ A piece of super absorbent cloth. But they weren't here for the Shamwooh! ™ They were here for something else.

"It's right here, this is the one" Eren pointed at a stand with other useless but knickknackey stuff.

But it wasn't there.

"Oh well, guess we'll have to go and get the telescope" Friedrich said already walking off.

"Wait! Um, mister, do you know where the curved knife is" Eren asked the shopkeeper.

"Just sold it to a garrison soldier over there" The shopkeeper explained pointing to the guy he sold it to.

The garrison soldier was walking away with the knife in hand chatting with his comrades. Eren smirked at Fred, who just rolled his eyes. The three then ran over to the garrison soldiers.

"Um, sir! Wait!" Eren shouted as he ran towards them.

The soldiers heeded the call and stopped and turned around. As the three came up to him, all eyes fell on Friedrich; of course. Fred was used to that kind of thing, so it didn't really affect him. The four soldiers were mumbling something about a chocolate baby. Was that seriously the thing he was going to be known as for the rest of his life?

"What do you want?" the one with the knife asked.

The man was tall and heavily built, and he had a burly mustache and a scar on his eye too. He also had a deep rough voice to compliment his appearance, needless to say, he looked quite formidable. The three simply stood there looking at him as if he were a titan.

"Well out with it then, I don't have all bloody day" He said

"Um, we were wondering if we could" Fred paused, trying to keep his composure, "we were wondering if we could, or it there was a way, we could acquire that knife?"

The man and his fellow soldiers simply looked at him. It probably only lasted a minute, but it felt like an eternity. Eren and Armin were sweating like pigs under the pressure. Friedrich couldn't sweat, but he clearly showed signs of cracking. After the longest minute in anyone's life ended, the man reached a conclusion.

"You know what? I think we can work something out" the man said.

"My friends and I have to deliver a package" The man explained pointing to a large box one of the soldiers was carrying.

"You see, we have other things to do, but we need to deliver the box to this address" the man continued, "if you three can deliver the package, I'll give the knife to you; but we really can do it ourselves, so there's a price"

"Well, this is all we had" said Eren presenting the money he had for the week's food.

The man looked at it and smiled; it was enough to by a bunch of alcohol for him and his squad. He snatched the money and threw the box at the three children. Friedrich stuck his arms out and caught it. To avoid suspicion, he pretended to stumble as if it were heavy, which to a kid his age would be heavy.

"Alright, we have a deal, here's the address, now get out of my sight" the man said handing them the address and leaving them in the middle of a busy market with a large box.

"Wait, so what now?" Eren asked

"If we want the knife, I guess we deliver the package" Armin said.

"Wait, how do we know where to find you?!" Friedrich shouted at the retreating men

"Just look for us at the HQ!" the man shouted back

The men then disappeared behind a street corner, though Friedrich could still hear them.

"Why'd you agree to deal with those kids?" one soldier asked, "What if they lose the package?"

"I don't give a damn what they do with the package" the mustache man said, "It was the CO's job and he gave it to us just so he can slack off".

Friedrich continued to listen in. There was a reason he named his ears "the super-duper eavesdroppers". But they didn't give a single hint to whether they were going to keep up their end of the bargain. They just started talking about women, his mother to be specific. Friedrich tuned out before his gag reflex could kick in.

The box was large, a little over a meter long and a little under 30 centimeters wide. Eren then looked at the address on the piece of paper.

"1337, Meem way, Harammbay district" Eren read out loud.

"Isn't Harammbay district were all the southern nobles lived?" Armin questioned

It was true. Harammbay district was a district about 14 kilometers northeast of Shiganshina district. It was sparsely populated by politicians, rich merchants and, really, just rich people. Commoners like them were frowned upon by people there.

"Yeah; I don't think it's a very good idea" Friedrich chimed in.

"Oh and why not?" Eren inquired, "we finally get a way to the knife and you just throw the opportunity to the wind, just like that?"

"I'm being practical, Mom would be worried sick, and we can't get the food now that we don't have the money" Friedrich argued.

"Guys, it's 10 am roughly?" Armin asked

"Yeah?" Eren and Friedrich replied in unison

"I figure, that if we just go straight to the address without stopping, we can make it back by nightfall" Armin explained.

"Yeah, if our parents don't send out a search party for us by then" Friedrich remarked.

"Yeah, but maybe, if we tell them we're going somewhere that requires our… parameters" Armin explained.

"Fine, but if this backfires, don't say I didn't warn you" said Friedrich before he put the box down and ran off towards his house.

Armin did the same as he ran off towards his house to say his excuse.

"Hey! Where are you guys going?!" Eren shouted, "Fine, just leave me here!"

Eren sighed and dragged the box somewhere safe, cursing under his breath along the way. The box was heavy! He was still in the market district after all.

Friedrich was running back to his house. He ran at the speed of a sprinter from the royal Olympic games. It didn't take long for him to get home. When his mother answered the door, it was a bit of a chore to get her off.

"Why are you back so quickly? And where's Eren?" she asked

"Um… we lost the money" Friedrich half-lied.

"What?!" Carla exclaimed

"But" Friedrich continued, "we did work up a deal with Mr. and Mrs. Arlert, if we help them all day, they'll buy the food for us".

Carla eyed at him suspiciously.

"And how'd you lose the money?" Carla asked suspiciously

"James" answered Friedrich, thinking on his feet.

"You know, there ought to be a program to correct troubled youth like him" said Carla.

"I'm kind of in a hurry mom" Friedrich said hastily.

"Then why are you here?" Carla asked

"Oh, just to let you know" Friedrich explained, "and to get something".

Friedrich dashed inside the house and up the stairs. But he met a roadblock, and her name was Mikasa.

"Where are you going?" she asked nonchalantly

"Places" Friedrich answered almost as nonchalantly. But he knew that he could never beat her at this game.

"Such as?" she questioned

"The Alert's" Friedrich answered.

"Why are you here then?" she continued

Friedrich pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed.

"Look, I'm in a bit of a hurry, so can I just go and get my thing and skedaddle?" Friedrich asked

Mikasa looked at him with those stoic silver gray eyes. They were so weird, he's seen brown, blue and green, but never gray. And he wasn't talking grayish blue, but straight up gray. They looked nice, but they were just so weird, but then again, he looked way weirder.

He simply passed her and went to his room, but of course she followed. He had to think fast. He grabbed the gift, opened the window and leapt out. When Mikasa got in, all she found was an open window. Did he just ditch her? She took a deep breath and left.

On the ground, Friedrich looked around nervously. He just jumped out a two story window, not a small feat for a child. He had to make sure no one saw him. But someone did.

"Wow! That was so cool!" a kid shouted at him from across the street.

'Yes, totally tubular' Friedrich thought angrily.

He stared daggers into the child's very soul. The kid responded correctly and ran away screaming.

But enough of that, Friedrich jogged off to go look for his partners in crime. His super senses allowed him to locate Eren quickly. He was in a dark alleyway.

"Took you long enough" Eren remarked sarcastically.

"I had to deal with some… business" Friedrich replied a little annoyed.

The two brothers waited in the dark alley for about five minutes until Armin came back.

"Sorry you guys, had a little trouble with grandpa" Armin explained.

Friedrich looked at the sun and then back at his friends.

"Come on, we should get going; we're burning daylight" said Friedrich.

Fred picked up the box started walking with Eren and Armin following. They had a job to do, and only one day to do it.

 **Thank you for reading another chapter of Humanity's Overman. Part two of this adventure will be uploaded when I wake up inside.**


	5. the job part 2

**I was originally planning to release this on Christmas, but then I thought, nah, I want to spend time with my family. So then I was thinking of releasing it the day after New Year's, but then my computer started acting da mickey so it was out for a while. So anyways, merry Christmas, happy Hanukah, happy December day and happy Gnu Year's. Oh, and I will sometimes use Fred and Friedrich interchangeably.**

The trek through Shiganshina was uneventful for the most part. The just walked, exchanged some uninteresting banter, and took in the scenery of the walled city. The walls hung over the city like really two-dimensional mountains. It was almost depressing if it wasn't for the bright sunny day. The streets were narrow and the buildings were close together and usually quite large. The Jaegers lived somewhere near the slums, so, while not the bad part of town, was not quite as well kept.

The thingy in the box bounces around as Fred walked, with abilities that Friedrich possessed, it was impossible to not get curios. There was the fact that you were invading someone's privacy. But Friedrich gave it no thought and used his x-ray vision to peek anyways.

What he saw next almost made him drop the box. It was a telescope! Friedrich inhaled deeply through his nose to keep his excitement from overtaking him. The two beside him turned around and looked at him in confusion.

"Wot?" Fred asked

"What was the deep inhale for?" Armin question

"What inhale? Why do you ask me this? Am I my Breath's keeper?" Fred said defensively

Both Eren and Armin raised their eyebrows. It was well known to both of them that he probably didn't even need to breath. And why was he getting so defensive?

"Why are you ge-' **burp** ' getting so defensive?" Eren asked before patting himself in the chest to let out all the smaller burps.

"Me getting defensive? I'm not getting defensive" Fred Answered, "you're getting defensive"

Armin looked at him in confusion, but Eren was getting annoyed by this charade.

"If you're trying to hide something, you're not doing it very well" Eren said annoyed.

Armin looked as his to companions argued. What was he hiding that was so important?

'Why, why are they arguing over something so trivial? Wait, Fred can see though walls, is it possible that he saw what was inside'

Then it hit Armin like a large thing crashing into him.

"It's in the box!" Armin exclaimed

The two brothers stopped their little discussion to look back at Armin with raised eyebrows. Armin sunk back. Eren then turned back to Fred with frustration.

"Why the hell won't you tell us?" asked a very annoyed Eren

Friedrich had the look of someone who sweat dropped, the only difference being that he can't sweat. There was a long silence and his two buddies looked him dead in the eye. It felt like they were boring into his very soul.

Then Friedrich did something unexpected; he started chuckling. Eren and Armin looked at him with more confusion, well, Eren was still frustrated.

"It's a telescope, there's a telescope in here" Friedrich answered still laughing

Eren and Armin audibly gasped (as most anime characters do).

"Then, why-"Eren was cut off

"I was just messing with you guys" Friedrich explained, "Geez, can't you take a joke"

Eren just sighed, while Armin calmed down from his outburst.

"So it's a telescope" Eren clarified.

"Ye" Friedrich answered simply.

"It's not going to be yours" said Eren

"Who said it was going to be mine" Friedrich retorted

"I know how you are about telescopes" Eren said in a matter of fact tone.

"Why are you getting so uppity about this?" Friedrich asked

"Um guys?" Armin chimed in

"What?" Fred and Eren said in unison

Armin slowly raised his finger and pointed behind the brothers. The two turned around to receive a nasty surprise. It was J. Jonah Jameson and his gang. Standing a couple meters behind them.

"Looks like we found yah" James said in a sinister voice

Eren had just about had enough, as he looked like and angry kid about to explode. Fred already knew they were coming, but for some reason he didn't care enough to acknowledge it.

"We caught you without your mommy to protect you" James said with venom in his voice.

"And now I'm gonna make a necklace out of yah teeth"

"Ooh, you in trouble" one of his goons went.

"Ugh, that's kind of gross" another said

James looked at them cockily until someone rained one his parade. That someone was Eren, throwing a stupid rock at his stupid face. It nailed him right in the forehead. He was out cold before you could say sally sells sea shells down by the sea shore.

"WHY D _O_ N'T YOU JUST LEAVE US AL _ON_ E!?" Eren screamed, with his prepubescent voice cracking.

The goons chuckled at Eren's voice crack before realizing that he just knocked out their god. The smiles were soon turned to frowns. They were kind of growling too.

"Alright, yah big 'ead wankah's" one snarled, "now **I'm** gonna make a necklace out of your teeth"

Friedrich was at an impasse; on one hand he could beat them all effortlessly, but he didn't think he could do it without raising too many eyebrows. A kid already saw him jump out of a two story window. He thought quickly and grabbed both his comrades and ran. The box was held in one arm and he grabbed Eren with the other. Armin just held on for dear life.

Friedrich ran fast, but not too fast; he ran as fast as a prize sprinter, which much faster than the people chasing them. He kept on running hoping to lose them. He didn't notice, however, that they gave chase to someone else.

Mikasa had been following them. She kept herself on a street parallel to the one they travelled, as to not arouse Fred's suspicion. His senses made it impossible to sneak up on him. Her mother, before her death had taught her to sneak and how to fight, for her people were heavily persecuted, and she would have to know how to defend herself. Those skills were useless against Fred, sure, but she could sneak better than your average kid. And the way Fred acted, she knew something was up.

She came across James' gang trailing her three friends. When it finally came to confrontation, Eren knocked James out, but Fred took him and Armin and ran. Fred was never a fighter, but she was. When the goons took chase, Mikasa picked up a rock and threw it at the back of the head of one goon. It knocked him out. The other four stopped their chase to see who took out their bro, only for another rock to be thrown at one's face.

"OW! Fuck! What the hell?!" the exclaimed, before receiving another one, this one knocking him out

The remaining three now had a new target.

"Alright yah lil' squint eyed bitchtart" the newly appointed leader hissed, "I'm gonna hang yah with yer red scarf"

It must have struck a nerve, because Mikasa's usually stoic face turned into an angry face. But not an angry face like that of Eren's, no, but an anger that had a certain chill to it, one of someone who was in complete control. It sent a little fear into the souls of the goons, but not enough to deter them. They charged at her, and she ran off, not to escape, rather to set up a better place to fight. She was skilled but she wasn't stupid, they were older than her, and it they had her on all sides, she would likely be overwhelmed. She had to fight them one by one.

Mikasa turned into a narrow alleyway, the perfect spot. The goons with their long ass legs caught up quickly and turned the corner. Just were she wanted them, it single file.

The first one charged her, but she responded with a snap kick to the groin followed by an uppercut. She pushed him past her and moved on to the next guy. He was going to throw a charging punch at her but she caught his arm and using his momentum against him, flipped him onto his back. She turned to the next one who was a startled by her display of whoopassery. She looked him dead in the eye. He simply stood there not knowing what to do. And Mikasa just stood there, her cold grey eyes staring him down, as if challenging him. He finally snapped out of it and swung a punch. She ducked out of the way and elbowed him right in the floating ribs, quickly transitioning to three quick punches to the kidneys.

The goon keeled over in pain, only to receive a roundhouse kick to the face. The one who got flipped onto his back got up, and furious as ever, charged her. Not learning from his mistake, he was going to throw another charging punch. Mikasa sidestepped him and spin kicked him in side and transitioned to a spinning hook to the solar plexus. She raised her hand and brought down a full power chop to the neck. He wasn't getting back up any time soon.

The first goon was struggling to get up; the pain in his groin was still fresh. He audibly gasped as Mikasa walked over to him. She grabbed him by the shirt and looked him in the eyes with this calm that very few had after a fight.

"Remember what happened here" Mikasa told him in a cold, yet emotionless tone, "and tell all your friends, that this is what will happen when you see this scarf"

The goon nodded. She let go of him and walked out of the alley. The goon could only watch with a mixture of awe, fear and confusion.

'Who is she?' was all he could think about

Mikasa walked out of the alleyway and looked down the street.

'And now to find out what's really happening' Mikasa thought.

Friedrich ran a few blocks before turning a corner. When he let go of Eren, he fell over from the sheer momentum. Armin got off his back completely shaken by the wild ride.

Eren got up from his mighty fall, and was not in a better mood than before the chase.

"What the hell was that?!" Eren demanded

"Evasion" Friedrich replied

Eren just sighed. He regained his composure and focused in the matter at hand. Armin was still catching his breath.

"So there's a telescope in there" Eren stated.

"We've already been over this" said Friedrich

"Guys, can't we just move on" Armin added, finally getting over the mad dash.

"Your tearing yourselves apart again, but only this time, over something so trivial" Armin continued, "And I'm finally able to see us band together again, please don't let this go away again"

Both brothers just sighed and continued on. They had to finish the joj that Hoh sis started. So the three continued on their journey to deliver something that might not even get them what they wanted. Meanwhile, they were being tracked.

Mikasa looked down the road she saw Fred and co. run down. On one cobblestone she could see a piece of leather that shoes are made of. She knew exactly who they belonged to. It also seemed that he left some a little path of slightly unnoticeable destruction in his wake. It was tracking time.

Back with los tres amigos, the rest of the city was quite uneventful. They saw some stuff, talked about things, tripped a few blokes' here and there; mostly uneventful things. At least it was until they came to the gate. It was run by Hannes, the anti-thesis of work, friend of local brewers.

Eren had a strong dislike for them. Sitting on their asses while titans could break through at any minute! Whenever they passed through this gate, he gave them a piece of his mind.

"Ey kids ' **burp** ' how yah doin'" greeted Hannes, clearly drunk

"Um, okay I guess" Friedrich replied

"Damn lazy oafs" Eren mumbled under his breath

"Oi, wot wuz that?" Hannes asked

'Oh God, we don't have time for this' Fred mentally sighed

"I said, why are you just slacking off when we have giant man eating monsters on the outside" Eren said more clearly.

Friedrich grabbed him by the shirt collar and started pulling him through the tunnel. Eren was yelling and flailing as he was dragged along.

"HEY! LET GO OF ME! I'M YOUR ELDER! SHOW SOME RESPECT!" Eren shouted

Fred let go of him. It didn't seem to help that Eren was still quite angry face.

"Stop doing that" Eren hissed.

"Yeah okay, whatever, can we please just focus on the objective" Friedrich sighed.

"Just don't do that again" Eren growled

Fred simply rolled his eyes, and chuckled a bit. He kind of missed dealing with this side of Eren. It was how they rolled; ice and fire.

"Eh, crazy kids" Hannes thought aloud.

They walked thought the city outside of Shiganshina until they met the countryside. All three could agree that they liked the countryside better than the city. It was more open more free. It was also a better place to track.

Mikasa had reached the gate, and you know what that means: interrogation, or just asking a few questions.

"Have you seen three kids walk through here?" Mikasa questioned Hannes

"Oh, ur, um, that one kid, yeah I saw your friends walk through here" Hannes answered

"Thank you" said Mikasa, and she went on her way to find them.

Back with los tres amigos; the country was treating them better than the city. Walking down a dirt road, the sky was blue, the sun was shining, the birds were singing, the grass was green. It was good day to be giant man, or any man for that matter.

"Ah, this is so much better, amiright?" said Friedrich

"Yeah" Armin seconded

"How far away is Harammbay district again?" Eren asked

"It should by, like, thirteen kilometers now" Armin answered

They continued on, admiring the beauty of the countryside. But the novelty of it soon wore off; it was time to participate in conversation.

"So an, um, hot damn, I forgot how it went" said Fred, trying to tell a joke

"Isn't it the one with the scout, garrison soldier and MP?" said Armin

"Oh yeah, so a scout, a garrison soldier and an MP are in a bar talking about, A Shish, I forgot the rest" Fred pouted.

"So do you have a different joke?" Eren asked

"Um, let me think of one" said Fred, and he did think.

"Oh, what do you call a horse without a head?" Fred asked

"Wot?" Armin and Eren said in unison

"Dead"

It took a little thought, but they finally got it. The three chuckled a bit. But the laugh was Armin's fatal mistake. For a second, he lost focus on where he was going, and there was creek in the way! It was too late as Armin's leg slipped. This was it; Armin was going to get a wet shoe for the rest of the trek. But at the last moment, Fred dashed towards Armin and pulled him back before his foot could break the water's surface. Armin's foot had been saved from a watery doom.

It was strange that stream, it ran right through a road. It looked like that road as built after it, as if the workers didn't bother to build a bridge.

"Who the hell forgot to build a bridge?" Eren questioned

Fred just shrugged.

"Well, we can just jump across it" Fred suggested.

With that Fred jumped across; it was easy as cake. Next was Eren, who jumped across it with minimum effort. But Armin was skeptical about his abilities.

"Have a running start or something" Eren exclaimed.

Armin took a few steps back, and ran at the creek. He sailed over the mini-river and landed safely on the other side. The creak wasn't that wide anyways so the feat was quickly forgotten. And they continued on their merry way.

They walked and walked until the creek was just a distant memory. They soon came across a small forest, with tall wispy trees. Patches of dead moss covered them, gave them a graveyard kind of look. A wind blew through them; blowing leaves all through the air and making the trees rock back and forth. The forest seemed to have this depth to it that made it seem dark. It gave the three the heebie-jeebies.

"Well this looks nice" Friedrich said in a sarcastic, yet nervous manner.

"Are you guys sure this is the way to Harammbay district?" Armin asked cautiously

Eren held up the piece of paper that the garrison guy gave them.

"Well it does say that there's a forest in the way" Eren explained

"Well…" Friedrich motioned them to continue on.

The three walked towards the forest. The trees hung overhead like really tall and weirdly shaped sentinels.

"A Nice place for reptilians to hang out, eh guys?" Friedrich joked

"Yeah and just imagine a titan walking through this forest, tall and lanky" Eren added.

"Reptilians aren't titans" stated Friedrich.

"But titans are scarier" Eren retorted.

"What's scarier, a giant mindless monster or a monster that controls our very government" said Friedrich.

"Oh yeah, well the titans are so big a threat that we built the walls" Eren replied.

"The reptilians created the titans so they can rule the world" Friedrich countered.

"Well the reptilians aren't here threatening our very existence, now are they?" Eren retorted

"These walls won't hold forever, the reptilians will create a new bread, I mean breed of titan that will smash though those walls" Friedrich declared.

"You do realize that reptilians aren't real" Armin interjected

"Yeah they are; haven't you seen a lizard scurry along the ground or a turtle swim around or a snake?" said Friedrich

"Yeah?" Armin replied

"Wait so you mean that reptilians aren't giant humanoid reptile monsters?" Eren asked skeptically

"Yeah, did you really think I was being serious?" Friedrich asked, also skeptically.

"What, no of course not" said Eren

And they continued through the forest. Despite the pretty scenery, it didn't stop the boys from getting bored. The rest of the trek through the forest would have been quite uneventful, if it weren't for the pumpkin tree.

The tree had a growth that looked like a pumpkin.

"The tree has a growth that looks like a pumpkin" said Armin.

"Yeah" Friedrich replied to no one in general.

The pumpkin tree was cool and all, but the sun was already on the wrong side of the sky. So they continued their walk through the forest. Armin was noticeably getting slower and breathing was getting a bit uneven. Fred noticed this and showed that he noticed it.

"Hey you okay?" Friedrich asked

"Oh, um, yeah, just a bit tired, that's all" Armin answered, "and thirsty"

"There's a river up ahead" Eren pointed out.

Rushing water could be heard even by normal human ears, and of course Fred knew, with his super hearing and all.

Eren was getting a bit tired to and could use a break. They didn't talk about it, but it was decided that they would take a little rest break by the river, and perhaps take a little drink too. Hopefully their immune system is strong enough to drink river water. Tones of animals, and no doubt humans, take pisses in the river.

So the three got to the stupid river and were greeted by a thing. This 'thing' was a figure (likely made up of a mass of stick and mud) dressed up in armor and red cloth posted up on a big stake. It was some sort of "river knight". Why it is there will never be known, but it was kind of cool I guess.

Armin and Fred sat down on the gravelly riverside while Eren went over to the river's edge to take a drink.

"You sure that's a good idea?" Friedrich questioned

"Yeah, I've done this plenty times before" Eren replied, before taking a drink.

"You sure you don't want to drink?" Eren asked Armin

"Nah I'm good" Armin replied, "I'll drink when I get to Harammbay district".

'At least he's smart' Friedrich thought to himself.

Eren splashed some water into his face, washing some of sweat off his face. He looked up over the river's green water; he kind of regretted his decision. But it was a pretty place no doubt; the river knight was a nice touch, but how were they going to get across?

The river was quite wide, except for the bank that they were on. It was an exposed gravel bed with water flowing through the middle. Eren figured it was quite shallow, but not to the point where you can walk through it and only getting slightly wet shoes.

And again, no bridge in sight!

Fred and Armin thought the same thing. Fred looked up to see a large pine tree that overlooked the river. If no one was going to build a bridge, he was.

He stood up and walked up the bank and over to the tree. He eyed the tree, measuring up the tree. He was strong sure, but was he strong enough to knock over a large tree. Well he was about to find out.

He cracked his neck and clenched his fists and started breathing in and out, trying to pump himself up.

'I feel good, I feel great, I can do this, yeah yeah yeah yeah!'

The then pushed up against the tree, pushing with all his might. He heaved, he hoed. The tree started to move, motivating Friedrich to push even harder. He growled to release more energy, at the same time, he heard the tree start to groan as the wood was being bent.

'Come on, push yourself!'

His hands dug into the bark, his feet dug into the soil. There was hardly enough traction for him to accomplish this feat. He pushed as hard as he could without slipping on the dirt. The tree groaned even louder as it started to splinter. Then, going full Eren mode, Friedrich shouted at the top of his lungs to bring it down.

"AAAARRRGGHH!"

The tall, possibly 20 meter tree roared as it came crashing down and landed in the river with a loud "SPLASH". The fall was so mighty that it kicked both water and mud into the air.

Eren raced back to the "shore" as the water came back down. Though gravity was faster than him and some water got on him.

Both boys stood there completely stupefied by the feat. Armin's heart was racing; he just witnessed a kid, younger than he is, bringing down a large tree with his bare hands. He also couldn't help but think how lucky he was to have him on his side. Eren's was just as in awe, but at the back of his mind, he burned with envy and jealously. Why couldn't he have that strength?

Fred slid down the steep river bank onto the gravelly shore. He looked over to the fallen tree with a bit of surprise at his own feat. He was really that strong.

"Well, I built a bridge" Friedrich announced.

Eren and Armin simply stood there in shock. Fred's happy smile soon turned to a nervous smirk. He looked over to the 'river knight'; it was almost as if it was looking right at him.

An awkward silence followed, Friedrich hated these. He clenched his jaw and breathed out through his nostrils. He decided to end the silence by snapping his fingers.

"Hey, the sun's starting to set" he stated, "come on, we don't have much time"

The two snapped out of it. Friedrich already grabbed the box and hopped on the tree he downed; ripping tree branches off to clear a way. Armin and Eren looked at each other (not over the event yet) and walked over to the makeshift bridge.

It was a bit rickety, but it held fine. The silence continued even after they got off the 'bridge'. It continued until Armin broke the silence.

"How?"

"How what?" Fred asked

"How did you manage to do that?" Armin questioned

"Um… super strength?" Fred weakly answered

He heard Eren mumble something, though it was gibberish. Fred could tell that he was jealous of his power, but who could blame him.

The rest of the walk was mostly uneventful, besides cockblocking two foxes. Then they came to a mound in the forest with a door. There was a sign in front of it; it said: Harammbay's hole. Well at least they knew they were heading in the right direction, as weird as the name was.

Eren opened the door and walked in. it was a tunnel lit by holes in the 'ceiling'. The light revealed various trinkets and junk.

"Well this is nice" Friedrich said blatantly ironic

"So, I'm sure people travel to and fro Harammbay and Shiganshina, and this is a very weird route to travel" Eren pointed out.

The three exited the tunnel only to come out still in the forest. There was a large hill in the way that seemed to stretch both ways for miles, if the trees weren't blocking the view. The three started up the hill. And the strange thing is, that the path just stopped halfway up the hill. But it all made sense, the guys who made this path were too lazy to build bridges, and were too lazy to Finish the path.

"See, this route makes no sense" Eren complained.

But they came to the top of the hill, and into a clearing. But the clearing wasn't a meadow, but the end of the forest. The three breathed a sigh of relief.

A distance away, one could see large houses on hills. There was a village to the south and a huge field that lay before them, and there seemed to be a herd of cattle. You could even see the walls further south.

Up north, well, to their left was a hill with a large dirt road going down it. That fork in the road must have earlier must have been the way to avoid the forest. The three were kind of glad that they struck with the path, because that detour would have taken way too long to travel.

The three walked down the grassy hill onto the road. Next to the road was a marking stone. It said: Harammbay district.

"Well, this is it boys, we made it" Friedrich congratulated

"Woo, what a trip" Eren sighed.

"Almost makes me forget that we have to walk all the way back" said Armin

"Ahh, don't spoil the mood" Friedrich said smacking Armin in the arm. Armin winced a bit in pain.

The three looked at the sun's position; it was halfway between the middle of the sky and setting over the mountains. With much haste, the three continued down the hell

They now were walking through the grassy field that lay before the rich snob's estates up on the hills. It would have been an ordinary field if it wasn't for the really large herd of cattle grazing in it. Cows walked to and fro around the fields and paths, it was like it was some wild herd.

One cow trotted up to Eren and licked him in the head, up curling his longish hair. Eren retaliated by growling and smacking it in the face. The cow lazily trotted away.

"I think it likes you" Armin teased.

Eren scoffed.

"Well that's why I keep my hair short, less hassle, and I don't look like a girl" Friedrich added.

"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?" Armin questioned, knowing that it was directed at him

"It means that you look like a girl" Friedrich retorted.

"Hey" Armin said about to go into defense mode.

"Kidding" Friedrich reassured

"Oh, and by the way, watch this"

Friedrich ran up to a cow and jumped on its back. The cow responded appropriately by bucking around and mooing loudly. It was like watching a bull rider, except that they didn't officially exist. Hopping up and down and all around. The cow was going crazy, and then it just took off, with Friedrich still on its back, going "wooooooooo!" all the way.

Eren and Armin simply looked on at the spectacle. They didn't really take any action until Friedrich disappeared and something a lot less friendly appeared. It was a large black bull; the meanest mother-hubbard you could come across. Large horns, and large muscles, and it itself was large.

It was peacefully grazing until it looked up and directly at the two kids. Eren and Armin sunk back trying to hide themselves among the cattle, but they just kept moving away. For the bull's primitive brain, they might as well have been hunting. The bull started to thrash its head and kick up dirt with its feet.

"Okay, this is bad, very bad" Eren said in a hushed voice.

Armin simply looked at it in fear. Death was a very real option right now. Then the bull charged, giving them no time to think so they clicked their heels and ran like the wind. They tried to go behind the cattle to hide from the bull, but they knew better than to get in the bull's way so they simply ran off, leaving the two boys unprotected.

They had no option to be unprotected; the bull was huffing and puffing its way over, knocking over the cows that got in its way. It was like an unstoppable force.

Adrenaline surged through the boys' veins, putting all the power into their feet. They were trying to outrun something ways faster than themselves. It was hopeless. Armin looked back towards the bull and its charge of death, and it was way closer than expected.

It knocked down another cow, and another, in its mad chase. The cattle seemed to have enough of this and started to stampede. That only made the situation worse. The thundering hooves made a deafening roar and kicked up dust, making a cloud of brownness all around.

Armin and Eren had to resort to holding hands to stay together. But that was made impossible by the constant stream of meat running all around. They were slammed on all sides by the stampede. The bull didn't let up. It smacked every cow out of its way; the poor downed cattle were trampled over in this mad chaos. The stampede only slowed him down, but it would not keep him away from its targets.

Eren and Armin tried their best to use the stampede to their advantage, but it was a huge obstacle. They were smacked around by the surging cattle, and the bull's presence was still very much felt. But then, Armin was knocked down. He struggled to get up and not get trampled by the beasts. Armin was assaulted on either side as he tried in desperation not to get crushed by the swarm.

Eren had been knocked aside and separated by the cattle. He tried to stay out of the way, but it was way too chaotic. Then he saw it, the bull knocking cattle away in an effort to get to his prize. He could practically feel its breath. But his lapse in concentration allowed a stray cow to slam into him. Eren rolled left and right in order to keep from being trampled. It proved to be futile as a cow nicked him in the back with its hoof, and another kicked him in the leg. Eren screamed out in pain. But if he let the cattle trample him, it would be over.

Thankfully, the stamped started to clear up. But it gave the bull all the more opportunity to get them.

The bull took the chance and charged at the downed Eren. Eren struggled to get up. The bull was right on him, but something landed beside him and shoved him out of the way. It was Friedrich!

He took the blow full force and flew a good couple of meters.

Now Fred had to admit; that actually hurt! But he realized something else; the box wasn't in his hands. Fred stood up and scanned the ground for the box.

He found it, being trampled by a couple of stray cattle. He kind of chuckled at the misfortune, but it couldn't substitute for the huge amount of rage that was building up inside him. The box that they went on this whole trip for, to deliver to some rich guy, to get something for an important day, was being trampled on by cattle.

Unfortunately, that lapse in concentration gave an opening to the bull. He charged again and slammed into Fred's back, sending him skidding across the ground. Fred quickly recuperated and stood up to face the large black bull.

The bull circled him and thrashed his head about in an attempt to intimidate him. It wouldn't work though. He knocked down a huge ass tree. The bull was strong, but Fred knew he was stronger.

After the Mexican stare down, they charged at each other. They slammed into each other with enough force to create a small shockwave. And as expected, Friedrich won this clash. He pushed the bull back, the bull struggling to overpower him. Friedrich then threw the bull over his shoulders and slammed him onto his back.

The bull struggled to get back up, but the bull was tough enough to quickly recuperate. But when the bull squared back up, he was met with a hard right to the face. The bull was thrown off his four hooves and landed on the ground with a hard thud.

Fred looked at his fists, and then at the bull, and then at his fists again. He felt an energy rush through him; it was fresh hot testosterone. He had just knocked out a bull using his bare hands. If he didn't feel manly when he knocked the tree down, he did now!

He threw his fist up in the air and shouted.

"WOOOOO!"

Then he stuffed his hands into his pockets, remembering the important cargo. The gift was still there, and he honestly didn't know why he brought it along; he trusted Mikasa to not go snooping around. He was just happy it was safe.

Armin wobbled over to Eren who was also getting up.

Armin was still a little shaken up over the ordeal. Eren felt sore, and his leg felt like someone dropped a rock on it. He winced as he stood up. He saw the bull that Fred knocked out, and thought, wow.

"Man, I really wish I were as strong as you" said Eren kind of playfully.

"Yeah, but at least you never had to hide anything" Fred stated bluntly.

"But it sure beats being a weak human" Eren retorted.

"Hey, what about the package?" Armin cut in

Friedrich cringed at the question. Eren and Armin soon learned why as their eyes fell on the mutilated box. Armin simply couldn't say anything, or do anything for that matter. Eren; well…

"FFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!"

The yell was loud enough to hurt Friedrich's ears; Armin covered his ears to keep them from exploding.

Mikasa who was walking through the forest could faintly hear a scream. To her, it seemed like something was going on. Sure Fred could probably deal with it, but she wasn't taking chances. She was currently at pumpkin pine and started jogging quickly in the direction of the scream.

Back with the los tres amigos; they had settled down and were now mourning their loss. They sat in a triangle and contemplated their lives.

"Well, we can always lie to them" Armin suggested.

Eren looked up at him; he looked like he didn't give a damn anymore. Friedrich looked up at the sky and decided that they probably weren't going to get home in time. He stood up, considered his losses and settled on a solution.

"Armin's right, we kind of have no choice now"

"I _don't_ disagree with you" Eren replied.

"K, Eren get on my back" Fred asked, "the sun is really on the wrong side of the sky, we gonna have to hurry up".

Eren didn't like the idea, but right now he didn't have a better one. He kind of limped over and got on his little brother's back, and I use 'little' lightly. Friedrich was clearly the biggest of the three. Fred walked over and scooped up Armin. Armin was a little hesitant at this gesture, as he didn't really feel that comfortable, especially since he was holding him bridal style, and also because he knew he was going to go fast.

Armin's prediction came true as Fred took off as fast as a scouting legion quality horse. They got up the hill and back into the forest in a few minutes.

Meanwhile, Mikasa had come across the downed tree. She didn't see it go down, but considering the fresh stump, it had to have happened recently. And she had a good idea of who did it. And she was taken aback.

The sheer might it must have taken to bring it down would have been tremendous. She always knew Fred was strong, but this almost made her lose her composure. But she had to press on.

She boarded the bridge and went across it no problem. But the fact that he did this made her feel goosebumps, and she only felt goosebumps when she was cold, which she was not.

It didn't take long for the two parties to cross paths.

Mikasa was lightly jogging when she heard some rustling coming here way. She acted on her instincts and hid behind a tree. She thought, 'who would be jogging out in a forest?' But the rustling sounds stopped, followed by some grunts and a vomiting noise.

"Eh, can't you run more smoothly?" one voice said

"Why'd you stop?" another said

Mikasa instantly recognized those voices as that of Armin's and Eren's. And she also knew why whoever was carrying them stopped. No one else could carry them like that, well, besides a horse; but she knew better. His superior senses made him the perfect tracker, from a short distance at least, because he doesn't know how to track. You guessed it, it's Friedrich.

"Um, Mikasa, what are you doing here?" asked the voice belonging to Friedrich

Mikasa knew what was going down, no point in staying hidden. She walked out from behind the tree to reveal herself to the three.

"Same could be asked of you" Mikasa answered coolly

"Well yeah, but you are following us" Friedrich retorted, "It's a bit more shady if you ask me"

He got her there.

"Well I am following you to figure out where you are going" Mikasa double retorted, "you jumped out a window just to get away from me"

She got him there.

"So, what are you doing?" she asked, almost raising an eyebrow

There was a short pause, before someone answered the question.

"Nothing" Eren replied as casually as he could.

Fred and Armin mentally face palmed. That was the worst thing you could say when being questioned, for something that obviously wasn't "nothing".

Now, Mikasa didn't raise her eyebrows, but with her expression, she may as well have been. Armin looked like he was going to collapse, but he did muster up enough courage to discontinue this awkward conversation. Since Mikasa told the truth, they might as well.

"Look, we struck up this deal with a soldier, and if we delivered a package, we could get something in return, that we think would make a good birthday present" Armin explained, doing his best to keep his composure.

"And that's not shady?" she asked skeptically.

The three were unresponsive.

"Did you at least deliver the package?" she continued

Armin hung his head in shame, Eren sighed loudly and Fred's face shifted uncomfortably.

"No" Armin answered simply.

"It got completely destroyed" Fred added.

"There was this stampede of cows, it was crazy" Eren also added.

"So we decided that we're just going to lie to them" Fred concluded.

Mikasa didn't really respond, but she almost made the "are you fucking kidding me" face.

Armin looked up to the sky to check the sun. it was getting close to the horizon. Fred saw it to. He swung Eren onto his back, and picked both Armin and Mikasa in both his arms and took off. The three did not like it one bit, but they knew it was necessary.

They went over the bridge and past the knight, past the pumpkin tree and out the magical forest. With Fred running as fast as a racehorse, it took them less than half the time to get back to Shiganshina district that to get to the forest. When they "dismounted" they didn't feel too hot. The trip was not comfortable in the slightest.

The walk to the HQ wasn't very eventful; they thought they might have another run in with JJJ and his gang. In fact, Friedrich saw them just around the street corner, and they saw them too, but when they saw them, the shuffled away.

Fred had no idea why, after knocking out James and running off, a confrontation. But little did they know that they were avoiding them because of 'the girl in the red scarf'. And Mikasa knew it; she lightly smirked underneath her scarf. A legend was born.

So they got to the HQ. It wasn't all they expected. Just a large building, not a fortified castle like one would think. Eren and Armin went inside to the front desk. Friedrich stayed outside to keep an eye on Mikasa, though she didn't need one.

"What are you kids doing here?" a guard asked

"Um… were here to talk to someone" Eren explained

The guard just looked at him. Armin elbowed him in the ribs.

"Oh, uh, about a package" Eren specified.

The guard's eyes kind of widened, and chuckled.

'So these are the ones' he thought.

"Hey, get Kurt down here" he asked another guard.

The guard nodded and went to get 'Kurt'. The guard still there started full on laughing.

"What's so funny?" Eren asked

"Oh, you'll find out" said the guard, still laughing.

'Kurt' walked down the steps with a grim look on his face. He walked over to the only kids in the room. He almost started glaring at them. The guard's face was now red from the sheer amount of laughing.

"You deliver the package?" he asked

"Y-yes" Eren answered

"Good, that was a gift for the mayor" Kurt added, "The CO demoted me for putting the duty into a couple of kid's hands"

Both Eren's and Armin's heart's stopped for a second. That package was the mayor of Shiganshina's gift. But they knew better than to give that away, especially to an imposing man like him.

Kurt reached into his pocket and took out the knife; at least they thought it was a knife. It was broken into two pieces and the blade was very rusty.

"Thing's a piece of shit anyways" said Kurt handing it to Eren.

Today was a long stream of disappointments. That "amazing quest" was all for nothing. The two walked out the building with sad looks on their faces. Fred and Mikasa saw the thing too. Not an encouraging sight. Fred himself slammed his head against the wall and started angrily mumbling curses to all of cow kind.

"So you were going to get me that?" Mikasa asked

The three stared at her awkwardly. The thing kind of was a piece of junk.

"Well, yeah" Friedrich spoke up.

She looked at the piece of junk; it was that one knife she saw at the knick-knack stand. The knife that somehow pertained to her people. It didn't look that good.

Exhausted from the long day, the four headed back home. Armin went back to his humble abode, which left the four to explain to their mother where they were.

"Where were you?!" Carla asked angrily

"Getting a gift" Fred answered.

The discussion went on long enough. They explained what they did and why they did it. Despite the new sense of understanding, Carla still wasn't happy. Starting the day out of Mikasa's birthday, they were to be grounded for an entire month. Whether Armin could still hang out with them is unknown.

 _La dia de la fiesta:_

It was Mikasa's birthday party and spirits were sort of high. Yesterday had left a sour taste in everybody's mouth, but life goes on.

The day was spent preparing for the party, if could even be called a party. The family wasn't that rich so they had to compensate. Armin was also present by the way.

It was the end of the day and the family (+Armin) had eaten a bunch of sweet bread. It was time for the gifts. Grisha and Carla had gotten her new clothes and all that good stuff. But when it came to the three boys; yesterday just took to much a toll on them.

Eren promised to make his bed and clean his dishes for a month. It wasn't really a gift, but Mikasa accepted it anyways. Armin got her a telescope; Friedrich got a lot more excited than Mikasa. Acting like it was his present. He even got up and hugged Armin and thanked him over and over again. Since they were going to share it anyways, it might as well be taken that way.

Finally came the chocolate baby himself. He presented her with a small metal ogre. It was very ugly and crude, but Mikasa accepted it none the less. In fact, she was very thankful, inciting a bit of jealousy from Eren.

He didn't know why he chose to make her an ogre. But he did anyways, and now it was in the care of his adopted sister.

But the day came to an end and the three were punished for a month.

 **Next time: we actually get to the plot.**


	6. the fall of Shiganshina

**Well, here it is. There is not much more I can say. Also, if you want, you may check out the previous chapters that I have edited. Not much new, I just added some more detail to them.**

 **I also feel I need to respond to rognis, who left a kind of racist review. I don't know what's so funny; DC already has two well established black supermen, and I don't see how Hispanic superman is a joke considering he's more of a badass than regular supes. And be warned Rognis, any overly racist review will get deleted and end with you blocked.**

Many predicted that the walls would fall. It always came from the paranoid; those who pretended to know the truth. Even then the predictions were always of the far flung future. They guessed that overpopulation would be our downfall, or perhaps a violent revolution. The walls stood strong for over a century. The stone it was made out of was strong, and the walls towered over even the tallest titan. Many felt that the scouting legion, while brave and valiant, were unnecessary.

The majority of the land was sparsely populated by villages and homesteads as well as relatively unpopulated land. All the major populations are concentrated in cities that in total took up a meager percentage of land within the walls. Overpopulation was rarely considered.

Violent revolution was always the most possible reason for our downfall. Despite the controlled press and tight military control, the walled kingdom always had its fair share of intellectuals and free thinkers whose ideas about freedom could stir up rebellious feeling in the eyes of the masses. The every major city had slums and the kingdom as a whole had a largely uneducated population, but the majority did not suffer, so revolution was not necessary.

Lastly was the titans themselves. Few have seen one up close, but those who do and come back alive usually are changed phenomenally. These horrors are usually seen by the scouting legion or survey corps as they are usually called now. They have the highest suicide rates of any group, and the worst cases of prolonged shock anyone has. Some veterans refuse to describe them as it brings them back to the hell that is combat with them. Stories of ghosts or beasts that stalk the woods pale in comparison to the very real monsters that exists beyond. Considering the horror that exists out there, the worship of the walls can very well be justified.

No man, woman or child should even know such demons exist. The walls give them that blessing, to never have to see one. They stand as a testament to the adaptability of humanity; to create order out of chaos. They stand as testament to the greatness of humanity; the ability to overcome the greatest of obstacles. They tower above our foe, to show that they will not destroy us! If anything is going to destroy us! It is going to be ourselves. We have even figured out was to kill the titans, thanks to the sacrifices of the before mentioned survey corps, laying the seeds of hope that one day, we will triumph!

But then humanity received a grim reminder one day. A day that will be remembered forever, as 'the fall'. It came without morning, not the slightest hint. It was a normal day; the last many would have.

"Eren"

"Eren"

"Eren!"

Eren slowly opened his eyes to the voice calling his name.

"Wake up Eren; it'll get dark if we don't go home now"

Eren looked up to whoever woke him up from the best nap he's had in days. Drool dribbled down his cheek. His mind was still groggy, but he knew who it was. The stone cold gray almond shaped eyes of his adopted sister where unmistakable.

They stood under a tree in a grass field dotted with flowers. There was a cool breeze that whipped up the fallen leaves and made Mikasa's long silky black hair blow in the wind, as long hair would. It was relatively sunny with some clouds in the sky. The walls loomed like nearby mountains.

The first thing that came out of Eren's mouth was…

"Mikasa… aww, when did your hair get so long?"

Mikasa simply stared at him. If she showed at least a hint of emotion, she would be raising an eyebrow. But she chose to ignore his question.

"Were you really so sound asleep that you were still dreaming when you woke up?" she asked

"No… But I feel like I just had the longest dream…" he answered, "What was it? Now I can't remember"

"Eren" Mikasa interrupted, "Why… are you crying?"

"Huh?"

Eren was taken aback by the statement. But he felt wetness on his cheeks. He really was crying.

'What? Why? How?' Eren rapidly asked himself

And in front of Mikasa of all people

'God why? In front of her? Why am I even crying?'

Eren felt a surge of anger, confusion and… well, embarrassment. He didn't really express it, but Mikasa picked up on it.

 _On the other side of the wall:_

He used to be an oddity; the strangest person in the land, but people stopped caring what his skin color was after year seven. He used to be a coward, a meek person, now he was less so. He walked through town with a bag filled with bread and dried fruits in the direction of his home. His name was Friedrich Jaeger (but you can call him Fred) and today was his birth-er, pod-day. The day he came in a pod from the stars.

He could have acted as if he was a god today. He did have superior abilities and he came from the sky. But the abuse from the children he had when he was younger gave him too low of self-esteem. All he really expected today was a special meal and maybe a few small gifts.

"Hey boy! Your mother finally gonna give you a bath today?!" came a man from his market stand

He let out a course laugh that sounded like he had a lot of mucus in his throat. Fred ignored the insult and kept walking. He wasn't going to let an old guy ruin his day.

'If only I could reveal your powers. If only…'

He walked along the cobblestone streets dodging the people that passed by. A priest from some church thingy was jawing on about how the walls were themselves divine.

He imagined himself running along the rooftops, doing all sorts of acrobatic maneuvers. Which he could do! He could totally do it. But he feared doing so would draw attention. After all, there was this one kid who saw him jump out a second story window.

His free running fantasies continued on as he walked for a while until he heard:

'DONG DONG DONG DONG!'

The bell tower was ringing. Everybody knew what that meant. The gates were opening, and they only opened the gates when the survey corps was returning.

Fred also realized that he wasn't anywhere near the gates. And unfortunately he could not use super speed. He did the next best thing and started sprinting, at the speed of a regular guy who sprints.

He cut down alleyways, any shortcut to get to the gate. The fear of being caught kept him from going to super speed.

Even at a sprinter's pace it took painfully long. He didn't know how long it took him to get there, but as he rounded the corner, he was greeted by the sight of Eren being slammed against thrown against the wall by Mikasa with force disproportionate to her small frame. It made Fred stop in his tracks.

"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT FOR?! NOW THE FIREWOOD'S ALL OVER THE PLACE!" Eren screeched in his prepubescent voice

"Eren" Mikasa started, "have your feelings about joining the survey corps changed?"

Eren just now noticed Fred standing there. Eren shifted his eyes back and forth between him and Mikasa, signaling her. All done with a deep scowl.

Mikasa turned towards Fred to acknowledge him.

"Hi Fred, happy pod-day" Mikasa said with a glint of happiness and a ghost of a smile.

This didn't help Eren calm down. And Fred hadn't really caught up to things.

"Uh… What's going on here?" Fred asked

"Eren wants to join the survey corps" Mikasa replied nonchalantly.

"And she threw me against a wall because of it!" Eren yelled

"I threw you against a wall because you kicked a man in the head" Mikasa retorted.

There was an awkward silence with Eren and Mikasa. Eren with his trademark scowl and Mikasa with her calm, serious gaze. But Fred sensed something else in Mikasa; worry, worry for Eren.

"Help me pick up the wood" Eren finally said.

And they did, and they set off for their home. The walk was marked by uninteresting small talk. They didn't bring up the survey corps, lest it just make things more awkward.

Eren opened the door when they got home; announcing his presence with the generic "We're home".

"Welcome back" Grisha replied.

"You three are late" Carla added,

"Yeah well" Eren started, "Some stuff happened".

"I brought the food" Fred informed.

"Thanks sweetheart, just put it on the table" Carla instructed.

"So, uh" Fred started, "We gonna have some sweets?"

"Oh yeah, later" Carla answered.

Fred smiled, he may not be able to feel much, but at least he can taste.

"Oh, I forgot" Grisha said cringing.

"What?" Eren and Fred asked in unison

"Um… yeah… I have to see a patient two towns up" Grisha said with clear pain in his voice.

Fred couldn't believe it; all of them knew exactly what day it was, and now his dad was leaving. Going two towns up meant that he wouldn't be back today. Grisha knew this.

"Look, I know this is a bad time, but I'll bring you something real nice when I get back" Grisha explained.

"But today's pod-day" Fred said in disbelief

"Grisha, can't you go tomorrow?" Carla asked

"I wish I could, but the man needs medical attention" Grisha replied

"Eren said he wants to join the survey corps" Mikasa said out of the blue

"M-Mikasa! I told you not to tell them!" Eren shouted

"Eren!" Carla shouted, taking all the attention away from the pod-day predicament

"What are you thinking?!" Carla scolded, "Do you know how many people have died because they dared to venture outside the walls?!"

"Y-Yes, I know!" Eren shouted back

Fred looked over at Mikasa and mouthed: "what the heck". Mikasa looked down as if acknowledging that maybe she made a mistake.

Grisha then took over the scolding of Eren.

"Eren, why do you want to go outside?" Grisha asked

"I hate the idea of spending my whole life…" Eren paused, but then continued, "Inside the walls, ignorant of what's happening in the world outside"

"And besides" Eren continued, "If there's no one to carry on; everyone who died up to now will have died in vain!"

Again came a long pause. This day was just full of them wasn't it?

"I see…" said Grisha, "Well, I'd better be going. The boat leaves soon"

"Wait!" Carla called out, "talk some sense into your son!"

"It doesn't matter what anyone says. There's no holding back an inquisitive mind" Grisha answered coolly.

"Oh, and Eren, Fred" Grisha said while pulling out a key and crystal, "when I get home, I'll show you what's in the basement; that I've been keeping secret all this time"

"And there some things your pod can do too Fred" Grisha continued.

Both Eren and Fred were silenced by that. They've been in the basement before, but there were just stored things in there. There was the pod stored in a deeper cellar and well as a locked chest that Grisha kept away from the boys.

Eren's mind raced through the possibilities that lay within the chest. Maps of the outside world, technology that he found in Fred's pod. Fred's mind was solely focused on the crystal and his pod. Fred has been down to the basement to look at the pod before. He's studied it, looked inside it; but it never did anything, didn't have anything inside it. Nothing but a large 'S' shaped design on it; whatever that could mean.

The crystal could be some sort of key for activating it. The thought was so exciting that he almost forgot that his father was leaving for his "birthday".

They said their farewells and Grisha set off towards his destination. The four who stayed behind stood on the front porch and made the goodbye a lot longer than it had to be. But once Grisha turned the corner, Carla brought the subject of the survey corps.

"Eren" Carla started.

"What?" said Eren

"I won't let you do anything as foolish as joining the survey corps!" Carla explained

"What?! Foolish?!" Eren exclaimed

"THE WAY I SEE IT! PEOPLE ARE SATISFIED LIVING LIKE CAGED BIRDS! _ARE THE REAL FOOLS!_ " Eren shouted as he ran off

Fred could definitely see concern in Mikasa now; really, anyone could.

Carla bent over to Mikasa and asked her a favor.

"Mikasa, that boy is foolhardy, so help him out if he gets in trouble" said Carla.

"I will" Mikasa replied before taking off after him.

Carla then turned to Fred.

"I'll get started on the pastries" she said in a slightly annoyed tone

"k"

And with that, Fred also took off after his 'siblings.

 _Relatively close by:_

In an alleyway, a boy was getting beat up by three older kids. The boy getting beat up was none other than Armin Arlert. And the older boy doing the beating was J. Jonah Jameson and two of his goons.

"What's wrong stupid" J said in a mocking tone, "If it hurts, hit me back."

"N-no way! I'm not going to stoop to your level!" Armin tried to say in a defiant tone, but his voice was to uneven and high pitched to match his intentions.

"What's that?" One of James' goons asked

"It's because you know what I'm saying is true!" Armin continued, "That's why the only answer you have for me is your fists!"

"AND THAT'S AS GOOD AS ADMITTING DEFEAT!" Armin shrieked

"Oh is that so?" J asked with smugly.

He punched Armin in the gut, causing him to cough up some spit. Tears flowed freely out of Armin's eyes at this point. He was constantly sniffling to keep his mucus from also flowing. JJJ simply smiled at his pain. He was about to open his mouth when he heard the voice crack of something trying to sound threatening.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU GUYS DOING?!" screamed the person

J and his goons turned around to see that is was none other than Eren Jaeger.

"It's Eren!" one of them said

"We know that dumbass" said another

James smirked. The little punk was running into a trap that they didn't even mean to set.

"Heh, now's our chance to kick the little bastards ass" James announced

But there was someone moving behind him. It was staring cold death into their eyes.

"F-forget it, Mikasa is with him!" one goon shouted before taking off.

The other soon joined him. J. Jonah Jameson stood there bewildered. He wanted to stay and fight, but he knew better than to face Mikasa. Bitch knocked one of his teeth out once. so he ran off, hoping to avoid injury by doing so.

Eren almost ran past Armin but stopped to take in his victory of James.

"Ha! They took one look at me and ran away!" Eren exclaimed

Armin being the buzzkill he is, corrected him.

"M-more like they saw Mikasa and ran"

Armin's voice was still shaky, and he sank to the ground. He was all bruised up and his tears still haven't dried. His body hurt.

Eren leaned over to his fallen friend and offered him a hand.

"You okay?"

Armin looked at the hand but refused it. He braced his back against the wall and slowly started to get up.

"I-I can stand up on my own"

"You sure?" Eren questioned

"yeah" Armin answered

Fred had rounded the corner all sneeki breeki like his uncle Mislav taught him. But he should have reserved the sneeki breeki for another time. His buddy was getting beat up, and he wasn't there to help him. Luckily Eren and Mikasa had him covered.

He left sneeki mode and casually walked over to the three. The three looked over to him, their faces unreadable.

After the awkward silence, they went to the river banks to relax. It was evening then; the sun was just setting over the walls, and the sky had turned gold. It was a good evening.

The four sat down on a patch of by the river. They talked about stuff.

"So when I said the human race should eventually go to the outside world, he punched me, and called me a 'heretic'" Armin explained.

"Damn it, why do people frown on even the slightest mention of wanting to go 'outside'" said Eren frustrated.

"Well, it's because we've lived here peacefully for over a hundred years now" Armin started, "people are afraid that if we go out carelessly, THEY could get in"

"Royal government policy says that having an interest in going to the outside world is taboo" Armin continued.

"In other words, the king is a coward" Eren concluded

"You're right about that, but I wonder if that's the only reason…" Armin pondered.

"They're OUR lives; we can do what we want with them, right?" Eren said with resolve

"Absolutely not!" declared Mikasa, "no way"

"That reminds me! Thanks a lot for ratting me out to mom and dad!" Eren exclaimed

"I don't remember agreeing to keep it a secret" Mikasa retorted.

Fred, who had been quiet up until then, spoke up.

"You know, Mikasa's got a point"

"W-what the hell!? Are you telling me to give up too?!" Eren exclaimed in shock

"Well… for the time being" said Fred.

"And what's that supposed to mean?" Eren hissed

Fred was having a hard time trying to stay level headed, but he knew his brother had a short fuse.

"Look, it's dangerous out there, and whether you like it or not, you might die" Fred explained

Eren sat there for a moment, but spoke up again.

"Oh, and you do?" Eren questioned

Fred also sat there for a moment, but again spoke up.

"Eren, I am stronger and faster than any man alive, and I'm just a kid" Fred started, "imagine when I'm all grown"

"Oh of course, you and you 'superiority card'" said Eren

"No! It's just-" Fred was cut off.

"Oh, you do mean that!" Eren exclaimed

"Eren, can we not?" said Fred

"Well what do think, huh Mikasa?" Eren asked

Mikasa looked at him, but couldn't respond. She felt conflicted; on one hand, perhaps Fred would be safe out there, but that would spawn more envy from Eren.

"Guys! Adulthood is still far away, we have plenty of time to decide" Armin started, trying to resolve the conflict.

"It's not like a giant titan is going to break down the wall" Armin continued.

At that moment, a streak of yellow lightning came down and caused a deafening boom so loud, it rattled the bones of everyone in the city.

 _Shazam!_

BOOM!

To the four, it felt like a cannon had fired nearby. They slowly stood up, wondering what the hell just happened. Fred's ears rang, the sound sounded so focused. Focused outside the wall!

'Oh God please no, not today, not on pod day'

"W-what was that?" Armin asked

"An earthquake?" Eren suggested

The four saw some people across the road looking up at something.

"Let's go check it out" said Eren.

Fred looked over at Armin. If his guess was true, and God forbid that, then he literally just jinxed all of humanity.

The four made their way over to the main road where everyone else was staring. But staring at what? A strange breeze blew through, making a sign on a shop rock about. But there was a strange quality of this breeze, it was quite warm, like someone breathing on you, except all around.

"Armin, what is that?" Eren asked

Armin had been the first to get there, now he looked up in awe.

The other three rounded the corner. What they saw dumbfounded them. Hanging overhead the massive walls, where huge clouds of steam. Now, no cannon could produce that smoke. Fred's heart skipped a beat; it couldn't be.

His thoughts were stopped when a massive skinless hand gripped the top of the wall. Wall the people gasped.

"It can't be!" Armin shrieked. "TH-THAT WALL'S FIFTY METER'S HIGH!"

Then a massive skinless head lifted over the wall. The masses started to panic.

'One of them' Eren thought, 'a titan'

Clouds of steam erupted from the colossus, giving it an even bigger presence then it already was. On that day, humanity remembered, the terror of being dominated by them, and the shame if being held captive in a birdcage. The skinless titan cast a shadow on the city; it didn't take a genius to know this was bad news.

"N-no way… the biggest titans are only fifteen meters" Armin choked out, "for it to stick it's head over a fifty meter wall?!"

Fred noticed something; it was moving… slightly downward. But what could that mean?

Then a loud boom.

'wait, he couldn't have-' Fred was answered by a hailstorm of boulders raining down on the city.

The giant rocks rained down like the heavens had opened up with rage. Crashes could be heard all around as the boulders crashed into building, roads, and even people!

But none of that could have happened unless it kicked a hole in the wall. Everyone took initiative and ran in the opposite direction.

"WE HAVE TO RUN!" Armin shrieked, "BEFORE THE TITANS GET IN!"

But Eren instead ran in off in a direction that was not the opposite of the wall. And Fred knew exactly why.

"Those pieces of the wall landed in the houses!" Eren screamed, "MOM'S AT HOME!"

Mikasa took off after him, leaving just Armin and Fred.

'it's too late' Armin thought.

"The town will be overrun by titans!" Armin yelled in a last ditch effort.

Fred looked over at Armin with pure terror plastered on his face. He shook his head.

"Armin, get out of here" he spoke, "NOW!"

He didn't even give his friend time to respond as he dashed off towards his house. Armin honored his friend's wish and booked it, praying to whatever God would listen.

Fred ran at full speed. He didn't care if anyone noticed a blur, he ran past people running for their lives, ruined houses, even a mother and child looking at a man crushed by a boulder. Fred couldn't dare look at corpse or the helpless explosions on their faces.

He reached the end of an alleyway when he suddenly slammed into something. As Fred looked up, he saw what it was.

'No' was all he could think.

It was a titan.

Up close, all the features could be made out. It was massive and it made Fred feel like a mouse looking up at a cat ready to pounce. It had straw colored matted hair and its maw dripped with viscous saliva with teeth cracked and molding. You could see a roadmap of veins in its large blue eyes. It had this inhumanly large smile that was the product of nightmares. And those eyes were pointed at him, no doubt about it.

Fred's eyes locked on with… it's. He knocked down a tree, knocked out a bull, but this made his heart stop. He didn't need to breath, but he was almost hyperventilating. He never felt more afraid than he did at this moment.

But it didn't do anything, it just stared. Then it simply walked away. Fred has never cussed before but…

"Fuck"

A word he had learned recently, but it was all he could say. The thing's footsteps thumped beneath him, like miniature earth quakes.

But then he remembered. Just as Eren and Mikasa appeared around the corner, running towards the house just around the corner.

"COME ON!" Eren screamed in desperation

The rounded the corner and saw a boulder smashed into the house. A feeling of dread overflowed the already dread filled hearts. And underneath some of the rubble Fred saw his mother, trying to climb her way out. But she was trapped underneath the weight of the house.

"MOM!" Eren wailed

They ran up to the pile of rubble that used to be their home.

" _Eren, is that you?_ " Carla asked in a weak tone

"Hold on!" Eren exclaimed, "We're going to lift the pillars!"

Fred didn't wait for Eren's call and grabbed the wooden pillar and started lifting. It was heavy but he could manage.

"Hurry, get her out" Fred grunted.

The two obliged and pulled her out. Carla growled in pain as her two children pulled her out from underneath the rubble. Her legs were destroyed.

Fred was just about to set the pillar down when a 'crash!' could be heard. It was a titan!

The titan crashed through a house on the right, sending some of the rubble onto the smashed Jaeger household. Fred acted quickly and shoved Eren and Mikasa out of the way. But he ended up being covered in some of the rubble.

Eren coughed as he got up and looked at the titan in front of him.

'No' Eren thought.

"It can't end" Eren said aloud, "NOT LIKE THIS!"

Carla groaned in pain and opened her eyes. The falling rubble just missed her, but she knew what was happening, and she knew what had to be done. Her legs were numb, and a mess. She couldn't walk. This was the last time she would see her children.

"FRED! EREN! MIKASA! GET OUT OF HERE!" she let out a shrill cry

"I'M NOT LEAVING YOU!" Eren cried out

He was going to run to his mom when he was wrenched back and picked up. Thankfully it was by human hands.

"OH GOD HANNES!" Carla cried out, "GET THEM OUT OF HERE!"

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?" Eren yelped, "MY MOM IS STILL UNDER THERE!"

Hannes didn't respond and grabbed Eren and Mikasa. He ran as fast and as far as he could; he'd seen a titan up close. The world had fallen apart. He was a coward to not face the titan, but if he died, he couldn't save anybody.

Carla whispered her thankyou.

"EREN, MIKASA!" she shouted one last time, "SURVIVE!"

Wait, but what about Friedrich. Carla felt a rush of dread come over her. She tried to get up, but her legs where a bloody mess.

She heard two stomps from behind. No doubt the titan.

"FRIEDRICH!" she called out

From the rubble, as if summoned, appeared Fred. He pushed the rubble off of himself. But he emerged too late. The titan grabbed her and raised her up.

From down the road, Eren could only watch in horror as his mother was in the clasp of the great beast. But he also saw Fred emerging from the rubble. A glimmer of hope sparked in him; he may be able to save their mother.

Fred on the other hand, was frozen in fear. His mother was being craned up the nasty maw of the titan.

'No, why am I just sitting here?! She's going to die!'

She was raised to mouth level.

'Do it'

Fred leapt up with all his strength, strait up to the titan's lower jaw.

From Eren's point of view, he acted too late. Both he and Mikasa saw the jaws clash down on her, and almost at the same time, Fred slam into the titan's lower jaw. It almost made it appear as if Fred slammed the jaw shut.

Blood flew around her body as the jaws slammed shut. The force from Fred's leap made the titan stumble backwards. Fred slammed into a building and fell to the ground. He looked up to see if he did it.

The titan opened and slammed its jaws shut again, making Carla's legs fly off her body. At that moment, all the strength in Fred's body left. He was trying to stand up, but the moment he saw that, he fell back down. Overcome with grief.

Eren responded with rage. He elbowed Hannes in the head. Pain shot through Hannes' head, and he stopped.

"Eren, what are you!"

"IF YOU STAYED AND FOUGHT!" Eren screamed as he swung another fist, "IF YOU HADN'T BEEN SUCH A COWARD!"

Hannes moved his head out of the way and threw Eren off. That didn't stop Eren's assault.

"You couldn't save your mom" Hannes said gravely.

Eren swung again, but Hannes caught his fist.

"I"

"I didn't face the titan" Hannes continued, "because I wasn't brave enough!"

Tears were flowing freely down Hannes' face just as much as Eren's.

"I'm sorry"

He took Eren's and Mikasa's hand and continued towards the river. Eren head throbbed, his throat was sore, and his tears flowed in abundance.

"I'm sorry" he repeated.

Mikasa looked towards their destination. All the hopeless people and the destruction. Her second mother dead. she felt the same coldness she felt two years ago, except now with fear of the unknown.

'Oh' she thought, 'this again'

 _Back with Fred:_

He finally got the strength to stand up. The titan was walking away, ignoring him. He didn't know why, but he hated that.

"YOU BASTARD!" he screamed, "YOU KILLED MY MOTHER!"

"AND YOU WALK AWAY!"

The titan didn't respond to his shouts.

"DON'T YOU IGNORE ME! LOOK AT ME! LOOK AT ME YOU DAMN SON OF A BITCH!"

"YOU DEVIL!"

He tried to follow, but he trembled so much, it shook the earth beneath him.

"COME BACK SO I CAN TEAR YOU LIMB FROM LIMB!"

The titan continued away, not giving any sort of recognition to the boy it orphaned. It made his blood boil. He fell to his knees and hands.

"You, YOU MANIACS! YOU DESTROYED IT ALL! DAMN YOU! GOD, DAMN YOU ALL TO HELL!"

He pounded the ground with his fists. The cobblestone beneath him was smashed apart. His eyes felt hot. he looked up at the wooden beam that his dead mother was trapped under. It started to singe, and then burst into flame.

'That ability would have been useful a few moments ago'

Who was he kidding; his mother was dead because he didn't act soon enough. His soul felt barren. If he didn't hesitate, he could have saved her.

'Why? Why didn't you act?'

He didn't answer himself.

'You were strong enough; stronger than any of them!'

He broke down and sobbed, curling up into the fetal position. He poured all his fear, rage and sadness into the bawls, digging his hands into his face. The world around him fell, if he were to survive, things would never be the same again.

'Never again'

'Never again will I be able to come home, see my mother. Why us? Why now?'

'Why?'

After what seemed to be an eternity, he stood up, not feeling any better. He remembered that he had to go with his siblings. He wondered if his father was okay.

He ran towards the river. On the way his super-hearing picked up many things; people screaming and running for their lives, only to be picked off by a titans. He heard their screams of terror, the sound of their bodies being mutilated. He heard this one man shouting about how this was a punishment from God, that 'we all wrought this upon ourselves'. He was cut off.

He got there quickly; he saw people, as broken as he, crowding around the boats, more ships really considering their size. There were men shouting, children shouting, and children and babies crying. The captain did his best to keep this orderly, but they all knew there wasn't enough room for everyone.

Fred pushed through the crowd and simply walked off the edge into the water. People gasped, thinking he committed suicide. He didn't, and dug his fingers into the underside of a ship. There he couldn't hear anything, just the rushing water. He felt its coolness. It was soothing, it helped, but he felt nothing would heal this scar. He tried to just empty his mind and just loose himself in the water.

After a while, he assumed he was outside the city, it was hard to say underwater. Then he heard a boom, and people screaming. He squeezed eyes shut. He tried to ignore it, but he knew exactly what it was. The titans had broken through the second gate.

He didn't want to see another titan. The wicked smile of the one who killed his mother forever cemented in his conscious.

 _Topside:_

People looked on in horror. A second titan burst through the second gate. It was much smaller than the first, but still big none the less, easily in the fifteen meters range. But this was not it. While other titans have strange proportions and often skinny limbs with pot-bellies, this titan was proportioned like a strong muscular man. His skin also seemed to be segmented, almost plate like, with some gaps that exposed muscle. The bone-like armor must have given it the durability to bust through the gate.

With the second gate busted, the titans could get in and invade all of the lands in wall Maria. Everyone though the same thing.

'This is the end'

The ships were ahead of the titans, though, one was not so lucky. The ship behind Fred's was caught up to by titans. People on the ships ahead could only watch as titans wadded into the river and picked off people from it. Most abandoned ship and jumped into the river, but they could not outrun titans on their own two feet. The river below them turned red with blood and the screams of the people unlucky enough to be on that boat filled the air, like a chorus of death.

A ship ahead of Fred's was Eren's.

"That's it, we're all dead; we're dead and standing at the gates of hell" one man said.

Eren sat against the cabin of the ship, looking to the horizon. Realization of what is happening took root in him.

'It's gone; our house, it's all gone, forever, forever'.

Eren thought of his mother.

'Why was I always such a brat? Why did I always fight her; I never got to say I love you, now I'll never get to, ever'.

Then he thought back to what Hannes said; that he couldn't save her. Because he's a kid, because he was weak, because every last one of them is a damn coward.

Mikasa was looking down, coming to terms with what was happening. But she hasn't seen Fred since he leapt towards that titan. She had a deep worry, that he might not have made it. Her eyes didn't seem to cry anymore. But the worry was agonizing; was he strong enough?

Eren got up, almost getting her out of her thoughts. He walked towards the wooded railing and gripped the sides. Tears streamed down his cheeks, his expression dark.

"No, this is over" Eren hissed

Armin tried to put his hand on his shoulder and ask what was going on, but Eren pushed past.

"I'm gonna put a stop to this" Eren growled, "I'll kill them all, every last one"

Armin looked at him. Eren seethed with rage.

"Eren" was all he could say.

If killing the man who killed Mikasa's parents made Eren more apathetic, then the titan invasion made him vengeful. That day, a bent stick finally snapped.

 _A boat behind:_

Fred knew he had to get back with his family; they must have been worried sick. He left the relative piece of the underside of the ship and swam upward. He listened for familiar voices. He found the muffled growls of Eren a ship up.

He swam upstream underwater, out of sight. When he reached the next ship, he hollered, getting the attention of the people aboard.

The people all rushed to the side of the ship and saw the boy clinging on to the side in the water. Conversations and clear worry could be heard among the masses.

"Hey, somebody get me a ladder!" shouted one man

Some people went inside the cabin and got a rope ladder. They threw it over the side and pulled Fred up.

When he got up, people barraged him with questions.

"Hey, give the kid some room!" one guy yelled, "He's probably been through hell"

Armin's mother, a petite blonde woman, came over to Fred and took him over to where his remaining family was.

Armin ran up and gave him a hug, as did Eren. There were no sobs, for their tear glands had dried up. Then came Mikasa. She stood their silently looking at him, as if she were looking at a ghost. Fred went up and hugged her. She gladly accepted the embrace.

The four lounged around for a bit before Armin's mother came up to them, with Armin's Father behind. Unlike Armin's mother, who had blonde hair and blue eyes like her son, his father had dirty blond, almost brown hair, but with blue eyes. His beard made him look even more sorrowful. Her name was Elyse and his was Adolfo.

"I know you have been through a lot, but you know us well…" Armin's mother started.

There was a pause. Armin's mother looked as if in pain to tell them this.

"But your parents may be dead" she continued, "but we'd be more than willing to take care of you"

Eren wanted to lash out, but he was tired. Plus she was almost his 'aunt', and his mother was dead, and she was offering to take care of them. He wondered if his father was okay, it aunt Gretchen or uncle Mislav were okay.

Armin's grandfather sat in silence.

Night soon came and the people aboard the ship, exhausted both physically and emotionally, as well as spiritually, welcome the embrace of sleep. Fred however stayed awake. He looked up at the stars, trying to find one spark of comfort. None came; they felt so distant now. Watching his own brother murder could not compare to this. He felt so empty, and scared at the same time.

Armin's grandfather, who was nearby, spoke up.

"I know what you are boy" said he

Fred looked up, confused.

"Your father told me all about it" he continued.

Fred felt a tinge of fear.

"What do you mean?" Fred asked

"You come from the sky, and are granted gifts man can only dream of" Armin's grandfather continued.

"Why are you telling me all this?" Fred asked cautiously

"I have a feeling that you are here for a reason" he started, "a Jesus or Moses if you will, meant to deliver us from the titans"

Fred didn't respond, but he was intrigued.

"The time will come will you don't have to hold back, when you can show the world who you truly are" he continued, "You will be our hope. Just promise me this"

"What?"

"Do what you were sent here to do, destroy the enemy" he concluded.

Fred nodded. Odd time for a pep talk, but okay. Fred looked over to the old man.

"Do Adolfo and Elyse know about this?" Fred asked

"Not yet" the old man answered.

Fred looked back up at the sky. The stars seemed to shine with a renewed brightness; a renewed hope.

"Oh and one more thing" Armin's grandad started.

"Your father knows many things; things we do not know. If you find him again, keep an eye on him"

Fred pondered this; what could it mean? Whatever the case, things were going to change, for better or for worse.


	7. hard times and enlistment

Morning came, but nothing changed. Even with Wall Rose in sight, the ship was filled with a solemn silence. The ships inched closer to the outlier district which loomed overhead with an empty hope. They were alive; that's all that mattered to the people aboard. They were alive and had a chance to never see a titan again.

The four kids, Eren, Fred, Mikasa and Armin sat in silence like the rest of them. Their sleep was dreamless, and the events that transpired manifested themselves in this agonizing sense of hopelessness.

"Be prepared! We are about to enter Trost district!" the captain shouted

Elyse, Armin's mother, came over to the four.

"Alright, When we get off the boats, I want you to stick with us" she said softly

Armin already knew he had to stick with parents, but the other three slowly nodded. Elyse tried to give them some sort of comfort to them.

"Look, I know we'll never replace your parents, but we'll do everything we can" she said

"Our father is still out there" Eren said quietly

"Huh?" went Elyse

"Our father's still out there" Eren repeated louder

Elyse was silent for a moment, but then spoke up.

"Well then, we will try to look for him whenever we can" she assured

"Don't get their hopes up" Armin's father whispered to himself.

Fred heard that, but he didn't say anything. He just wanted to get off this boat. If anything; he just wanted to dive back into the river, forget anything and just float downstream. But downstream was where the titans were.

Once they got into the city and off the ship, they were packed into this crowded courtyard where the Garrison and MPs had the refugees register themselves. Records of everybody already existed; this was just to get a more accurate body count of who lived and who perished.

The line filled up the courtyard to the point where it wasn't even a line, just a crowd. They marched forward slowly and solemnly. Most had no personal belongings and others had been separated from their families. Mothers cradled their babes because it was all they had left. Some children were on their own, their parents sacrificing themselves so they can have a seat on the ships.

Some wailed in despair, whilst most were silent. The crowd shuffled along to the registration papers. Those who finished were guided to one of several warehouses where the refugees were to sleep.

Armin clung tightly to his mother. Fred, Eren and Mikasa had no one to cling onto. The wait in line was painfully long, and no one was in the mood to talk.

It took a little over an hour, but it was finally their turn. The registration was as simple as signing their name and where they came from.

Afterwards, they were headed down the cobblestone streets. The inhabitants of the city diverted their eyes as if they would be turned to stone by looking at them. More likely they diverted their eyes out of the thought that they don't want to be seen. But in truth it made the refugees feel unwanted.

They were put into an empty storehouse. It was quite crowded, and since they weren't the last ones in line, it was sure to become even more so.

Armin's parents set down a blanket; the only thing that would separate them from the cold, dirty floor.

It was uneventful for some time. They ate their rations and sat in silence, a few murmurs of conversation could be heard, but silence prevailed.

An MP came in a while later. He was tall and clean shaven, with his black hair slicked back. Clean in comparison to the refugees. He came bearing news.

"I know many of you are... traumatized by the events of yesterday" he began.

"As you all know, with less land and more mouths to feed, famine is very possible"

They were silent.

"I apologize for the constant movement, but tomorrow, first thing in the morning, we are going to move you further inward to collective farms"

Then some broke into shouts.

"We just lost our homes!" one shouted

"I saw the titans devour my family! Now you're exploiting us?!" another shouted

The MP was trying to keep calm and explain everything; meanwhile shouting to make sure his voice wasn't drowned out.

"Listen, I know what happened! But we need to keep from starving!" the MP exclaimed.

Fred for one preferred going to work on a farm to staying in here. But when he was grown up, he'd take back wall Maria and maybe even, the world.

The MP calmed everyone down and told them to get a good night sleep, because they had a long trip ahead of them. And they did. There was nothing to do so they got their makeshift "beds", which were little more than blankets.

But it was the middle of the day, so most shuffled out of the storehouse to collect their rations.

Armin had enough with the painful silence and tried to strike up a conversation.

"So, uh… do you think they'll put us to work? Even the children?" he asked

Eren looked up at Armin, looking like he was about to pass out.

"Uh? I don't know" Eren replied.

"Of course they're going to put you to work; they need as many workers as possible" Armin's grandfather answered.

This answer frightened Armin. He had never been one for hard labor, and now he would be toiling away in the fields, all day every day.

Fred didn't worry about the labor; he could toil from sunrise 'til sundown and not get tired… maybe. But his mind shifted back to the events of yesterday. The horror and loss. He wondered if there was anything different he could have done to save his mother. The events that transpired were still fresh.

The thoughts were too much to take so he pushed them away. But then his thoughts wandered to other things. How could a titan that big sneak up on the Garrison. Then there was the boom. He'd expect something so large to have loud booming footsteps, but it was just one footstep. Could it have just appeared?

If so, how? It made his head hurt the more he thought about it. He leaned back and just tried to clear his mind. Something he couldn't do. But then he thought of something else. Where did the titans even come from? He remembered his leather-bound bible that he lost in the ensueing chaos. Whether or not the book spoke truth or not, it still did provide valuable insight. It mentioned a race of giants know as the Nephilim; appearantly born of fallen angels and humans, though it is not very clear on that (and now that he thought about it, could he be a fallen angel? I mean, his story kind of checks out). Could the titans be the fabled Nephilim?

Great, now not only did he want to destroy them, but also understand them. He sighed; he was only eleven, it would be a while before he could join the military along with his brother.

The rest of the day was uneventful. The slept, they woke and got packed up. The refugees crowded the main street as they headed towards the northern gate. Beyond them was a massive caravan where they would be transpoted to the fields. All day they rode and arrived at night.

It was a farming town with vast fields for farming. A small shanty town lied on the eastern end of the town; likely were they'ed be staying.

But right now they were being herded into another storehouse. Everyone was not happy once more, but bthey MPs said that they needed time to assign everybody houses.

But it was night so everyone could just sleep it off. And so they did.

Eren welcomed the sleep; despite not doing much that day, he still felt exuasted. Unsurprisingly, he was in a shitty mood, but he was not special in that case. Everyone was silent that day. Not a soul spoke.

Despite all of this, he hoped that tomarrow would bring an at least slightly better day. He lay down in his cot and drifted off to sleep. But then he had the strangest dream. He saw blackness, and then a fire.

"Eren, stay with me boy! Wake up!"

Eren all of a sudden felt fear and confusion wash over him.

"Stop it! Please! You're scaring me!" Eren pleaded

He then felt like like he was struggling against someone. He saw a hand holding a syringe flash overhead. But the man holding the syringe was his… father?

"I don't understand what your trying to do!" Eren wailed

"You don't have to! Just give me your arm!" His father commanded

Grisha continued to subdue his flailing son.

"No! You're insane! Mom's death pushed you off the deep end!" Eren shouted

"SHUT UP!"

"No! Let me go!" Eren pleaded

"Damn you! This is the only way!" Grisha shouted

"This doesn't make any sense!" Eren screamed

"Do not forget the key! Whatever you do! You must reach IT! It's the way to the truth! One day you'll understand!" Grisha roared

Eren was snapped awake by the bell tower. He was inside an empty storehouse, again.

"Hey, It's okay, you were just dreaming" came the soft voice of Mikasa.

Eren groaned.

"It felt so real"

"Nightmare. Shake it off" she said in a monotone voice.

"Yeah" he whispered, "Huh?"

He noticed a key on a necklace around his neck.

"So you got one too?" came a voice

Eren looked to wear the voice came from. It came from his brother, standing on a second story platform near a window, seemingly soaking up the rays of the sun.

"what'd you get?" Eren asked

"A crystal; my crystal" Fred answered .

"I got some key" said Eren.

"Hmm"

"Come on, they're handing out food rations near the wearhouse" Mikasa explained.

Eren tucked his key into his shirt. Fred walked off the plarform and fell three meters and landed gracefully as if he only jumped off one less than one meter.

The trio walked outside into a courtyard.

"I think this used to be where they used to store all the dried goods, now it's where they corral the refugees" Mikasa explained.

Eren put his arm up to block out of the sun as he looked about. He let out a small gasp as he saw all the refugees wander about in their own misery getting food rations. For some reason, a small blonde girl caught his attention. She had her hair tied in a bun but left some loose to cover her eyes. His eyes moved about to take it all in.

He distraught by the sight. Then he looked to the noise of a comotion.

"I don't think so friend"

"Gimme a break. All I had for two days was a moldy bit of crust!"

The two men tugged at eachother's shirts. A fight was sure to break out.

"Not a dignified exinstence" Mikasa observed, a little shakiness to her voice.

"Hey guys!" a voice called out

That voice belonged to their friend Armin, running over to them with an armful of bread.

"Glad I caught you. Here, grandpa scrounged a little extra by telling the MPs he had kids" Armin explained.

"That was nice" said Mikasa.

There was something about Armin, with his unusual smile, given the circumstances.

"Oh, I got one for you too Fred" Armin said rushing over to him.

"Oh, thanks" Fred thanked, thankful for Armin's thoughtfulness .

Eren looked down at his bread, then up. He saw some garrison soldier scoff and walk away.

"What's his deal?" Eren asked

"Just ignore it, there's a shortage; poor man's probably hungry" said Armin, "by the way, I'd make that last. They were dealing with famine before we got here, so it's an ugly situation. That and this far in there's already disparity between the locals and the refugees".

"Nothing more gratifying your rations go to animals" said that one soldier, "Guess we gotta beef up the herd though; eat up, the titans like a little meat on their bones"

Eren felt a rush of coolness run through him, then heat. Eren started walking towards him, fists clenched.

"Eren wait" Armin called out.

Fred simply stood there; he wanted to see this pig get it.

"Outta keep ya in cages, shove you out into the front lines as a buffer" the soldier continued.

Then it just occurred tho Fred that this might end up getting Eren himself hurt.

It was too late because Eren walk right up to the soldier and kicked him in the shins.

"Ow! Dammit! You picked the wrong man asshole!" the soldier shouted before punching Eren in the face, then his buddy kicked him to the ground.

Pain burned on his face, with his sides cramping. He turned to looked up at them.

"Spineless cowards! All of you! You don't, You don't know what it's like! You've seen one?! You've seen what they can do!?"

The soldier started walking angrily towards him.

"Why you little!"

Armin laeped in between them.

"Sorry! H-he didn't mean it, he's just hungry. We all get that way, speak our minds out of turn sometimes?" said Armin, "forgive him, I beg you"

The soldier looked around.

"Yeah well, keep in mind others have given up their fair share so you can eat" the soldier said, "in case you hadn't noticed, we're all hungry"

He turned and walked away.

"Tell you're little buddy grattitude goes a long way!" the soldier shouted

"Sure!" Armin answered

"Bastard" Eren grumbled, "I'm not about to show gratitude to a coward".

"Don't worry, I got ya" Fred whisped as he chucked a small rock at the soldier. It beaned him right in the head

Fred grabbed Eren's arm and rushed into the crowd.

"Come on, come on" he hissed.

"OW! What did I just tell you!" the soldeir shouted. Though when he turned around, the four had already disappeared into the crowd. For a moment, Eren felt happy, but it soon faded away.

They met back at the storage house.

"I can't do this, I'm going back to wall Maria. The titans are going to pay for what they've done to us" said Eren.

"Hey now, you're not serious, that's just your stomache talking" Armin reasoned.

"No it's not! Wake up, the guys standing between us an them are just a bunch of cowards" Eren hissed, "to hell with them!"

Eren threw his piece of bread at Armin.

"Here, take it back!"

"Yeah, what are you trying to do? Starve?" Armin questioned

"When are you going to get sick of this? Their charity. To much is just handed to us, we have to stand on our own two feet" said Eren

"To do what? Get killed by a titan? I know I used to think our future was beyond the walls, but it's like you told that man; I've never seen what they can do to us!"

"So that's it! This is just the wau life is! Run away and take what we're given!" Eren exlaimed

"Look at us! What choice do we have here!" Armin exlaimed

"We can damn well leave!" Eren shouted

"No we can't!" Fred shouted, "We are just kid's! We can't fight a titan! Are we going to honor mom's sacrafice by dying!"

Eren stopped and looked at him.

"That's rich of you" Eren hissed,"'cause last time I checked, you're the one with incredible powers, and when it came to saving a life, you couldn't use them".

There was a silence.

"Eren"

"No, you could have killed it; you could have saved mom" Eren growled,"You were the one thing that gave me HOPE! Hope that we could defeat the titans!"

"I KNOW WHAT I DID!" Fred exclaimed, "You don't have to remind me of the greatest mistake I've ever made. If we can just move past it"

"Move past it?!" Eren hissed, "It happened two days ago."

Tears started forming in Fred's eyes.

"We're staying here" Fred said with as much resolve as he could muster.

"If you wanna scrape by in the charity of cowards, that's your thing!" Eren exclaimed, "But I'm not a parasite!"

Mikasa had enough of it. She rushed up on Eren and punched him in the face. Eren, taken by surprise, was knocked off his feet.

"Mikasa" Armin whispered

The three were silent for a moment. But then, Mikasa spoke up.

"Have you looked in the mirror lately? All of us are parasites. We couldn't run from certain death without help, tell me differently. Don't take you're short comings out on him. For God's sake, we can't even find food on our own. We're all parasites. We're cowards. Titans are at the top of the food chain, period."

Eren looked away angrily.

"Pride be damned, we do what we must to live" Mikasa continued, "Mom didn't ask us to be brave".

Mikasa grabbed the bread from Armin and walked over to Eren. She walked up to him and shoved the piece of bread into his mouth.

"M-Mikasa" Armin stuttered.

"Eat it" said Mikasa, "she asked us to stay alive. Not about to let her down"

Eren resisted at first, but then finally took bites of the bread, tears rolling down his cheeks.

"You're wrong Mikasa" Fred stated.

The three looked up at him. Mikasa finally broke here stoicness.

"W-what?"

"We are to be brave" He said, "Just not yet".

Fred split his bread into three equal pieces and handed them to Armin.

"Here, take my rations. I'm not even hungry"

Fred put his hands in his pockets and walked away.

A few days later, throngs of starved refugees were put to plow on the wastelands as a last ditch effort to raise food. But the cold hard ground yeilded nothing.

That was their life now; plowing ground that would never yield.

Armin's grandfather told Armin's parentsabout Fred's powers. He proved it to them by handing Fred a rock. Fred crushed the rock between his hands. Armin's Parents were stupefied. He made them swear that they would never tell another soul.

But not much else happened. They worked; sunrise 'til sunset. But Fred was committed to helping humanity in any way he could. He put in more than his fair share of work. He didn't tire like the rest, so he just kept working. Losing himself in it.

Now he was become a strong youth, but it was starting to draw attantion to him; the inwanted kind.

One night, he was chopping fire wood. The sun had set and everyone was heading in for the day and Fred still toiled on. He split the longs with one clean stroke.

Armin's mother, Elyse, walked up to him and tapped him on the shoulder.

"Hey, it's time to come inside" she said.

"Can't, haven't finnished" Fred answered.

"Well we can finnish tomorrow" she retorted

"there's many things I have to do tomorrow, besides, I don't need rest" He retorted.

"Look, I know you want to do everything you can to help, but your tirelessness is getting you attention"

"Good, I want to take credit for my helpfulness"

"I don't think you understand. The MP will notice something unusual about you" she continued, "And they might take you away. Try to exploit your strength".

"And what else is there to do? Watch you all slave away on a ground that gives nothing?" Fred countered, "The Government doesn't care for us, they don't even want us. To them, we're just more mouths to feed"

"There will come a time when you can show yourself in all your glory, but just not yet" she explained.

"I had an opportunity to save a life" Fred started, "And I didn't take it. I'm tired of being on the sidelines and doing nothing".

"Friedrich, I-"

"No" Fred hissed as he chopped clean through a log and the log underneath it, "I just watched her die, and I know I can't travel back in time to save her. I can do the work of ten men! If this is the only way I can help, then so be it".

"But please come back, we're having a family dinner, for the fist time in weeks" Elyse asked.

Fred let go of the axe handle. It had splintered under his tightened grip. He reminded himself that he needed greater control over his powers.

The two started back towards the small cabin that they had.

After a few months, the government declared a reclamation mission of Wall Maria. It called for every able bodied refugee, women included. This included Armins parents. Of the thousands that left, not even a quarter made it back. Armin's parent's unfortunately, Armin's parents were not among those who returned.

This left the four in the care of Armin's grandfather. it was a great burden on the old man.

One day, a year from the reclamation mission, felt a great pain in his abdomen. He hoped and prayed that it would go away, but he knew that his days were numbered. And what was he doing on that day? Working out in the fields. Not only that, but it was snowing, and the cold wind whipped unforgivingly.

A Military Police officer and his two subordinates walk around the fields, keeping recording the harvest yield.

"Hey. This land should've been cultivated long before winter set in" their leader said.

"Y-yes sir, but most of our laborers were rounded up for last year's recovery mission" his lackey answered.

"I realize that, but you need to do something about it" their leader retorted, "It's your duty to meet your production projections".

"M-my apologies sir!" said his lackey

"At this rate, We'll all starve to death" the leader said grimly.

"The Military Police have never even seen a titan" Armin's grandfather started, "But look at how they puff out their chests".

"What more can they ask the elderly and the children to do?" an old woman said

"You kids" the woman adressed the four, "You want to do military training, don't you? Make sure you never become a soldier like that".

Eren looked over to Armin. He noticed an angry expression on his friend's face.

"Armin, what's wrong?" Eren asked

" 'Recovery mission', the liars" Armin growled, "My parents were murdered so there would be fewer mouths to feed"

They watched the MPs walk away. It filled Armin with a kind of anger he had never felt before. The people of the inner walls would never understand their struggle.

Armin's grandfather continued to plow the fields for a while; but then the pain overtook him. He fell to his knees and clutched his side.

The other workers ran to him to give him aid. First to get there was Armin.

"Grandpa! Grandpa!" Armin cried, "W-what happened?"

Armin's grandfather struggled to get up and grunted in pain.

"Something we shouldn't descuss here" he hissed.

The MPs allowed some adults to carry him back to his cabin. Armin stood over his grandfather; tears in his eyes and grasping his hand.

"G-grandpa, you can't die now" Armin sniffled, "We need you"

"Listen here Armin, I need you to be ready" Armin's grandfather said, "I just need some rest"

Armin's grandfather slowly closed his eyes. Armin continued to sob and shake at his grandfather.

"Please! You can't leave us!" Armin cried

"God damn it boy" Armin's grandpa said softly, eyes still closed, " I'm not dead yet, just know that my days are numbered".

The tough old bastard held out for three more months. But then, on Febuary 18th, 848; Armin's grandfather passed away. His last words were adressed to Friedrich Jaeger. It was a simple, but direct: "don't fuck it up".

And just like that, the four were alone. Armin sat outside the cabin looking down at his grandfather's hat. Silently crying to himself, even if his friends were there. Tough they all felt the same.

"It's because of the titans" Eren said, "If we destroy them, we can retake our home"

"Armin" Eren continued, "I'm enlisting next year. I'll become stronger to fight the titans".

"Me too" Armin said softly.

"Armin?" Eren said in surprise

"I have to!" He exlaimed

"I'll go as well" Mikasa added.

Eren felt a little tinge of disappointment.

"M-Mikasa, you don't have to" Eren said, "Didn't you say that it's important to survive?"

"That's right" Mikasa said, "I'll go to keep you from dying"

Eren pouted. He hated when she did this, acting like she needed to protect him. To be honest, he was hoping the military would be a chance to get her out of his hair.

He turned to his brother. He knew he was joining, and he was the only one he honestly wanted to join. With him, humanity actually stood a chance. And unlike Mikasa, he didn't have this strong conviction that he must protect him.

"You can count me in" Fred finally said to no one's surprise.

Eren came to terms with this, but honestly felt relieved that he didn't have to go in alone. With strengthened, Erem clenched his fists and stood up.

"Alright, together then" Eren proclaimed.

'They are the only family I have left' Fred thought, 'they won't die under my protection, this I can promise'.

'If you can keep that promise' came another voice.

Flashes of his mother's death came back to him. But all this did was strengthen his resolve.

 _Months later:_

And there they were, standing in uniform on a sunny day, with one fist over their hearts and one behind their back, surrounded by other teenagers who dicided to enlist. The dirt ground soaked up the sun's rays and made everyone's feet sweaty. The training camp consisted of a bunch of cottages, plenty of open area, and a watch tower.

But the crowning acheivment of it was their drill instructor. A tall bald man with tanned skin and a goatee. His yellow eyes were deep sunken and had this unnatural look to them, like he wasn't even looking out them. Destpite his apathetic gaze, his attitude was the exact opposite.

"I am commander Keith Shadis your senior drill instructor! From now on you will speak, only when spoken to! And the first and last words out of your filthy sewers will be sir! Do you maggots understand that!?"

"Sir yes sir!" everyone shouted

"Bullshit, I cant here you! Sound off like you got a pair!" Shadis shouted, completely ignoring the female cadets.

"SIR YES SIR!" everyone shouted

"If you ladies leave my camp! If you survive recruit training! You will be a weapon! You will be a minister of death, praying for war! But until that day, you are pukes! You are the the lowest form of life on earth! You are not even human fucking beings! You are nothing but unorganized grabbastic pieces of amphibian shit!"

"Because I am hard, you will not like me! But the more you hate me, the more you will learn! I am hard but I am fair! There is no classist bigotry here! I do not look down on hut trash, bank rats or greedy rich fucks! Here you are all equally worthless! And my orders are to weed out all non-hackers who do not pack the gear to serve in my beloved military! Do you maggots understand that!"

"Sir yes sir!"

"Bullshit! I can't hear you!"

"SIR YES SIR!"

Oh these three years were cirtainly going to be the best in their lives. Everyone was just sure of it.

 **Yes, I know it's been a while. For that I owe you an explanation, and an apology. I have been working on my own project with a friend of mine, one that will go beyond my fanfiction career. But another reason I hven't posted was sheer laziness. I am not ashamed to admit this. And on a minor note, you may have noticed the jewish undertones (more like overtones) I've placed on the Ackermans. This was because I did not know much of the world at the time. I thought that this world was simply an alternate version of earth where titans appeared near the rennaisance. I looked at the Ackerman clan and their parallels and thought "Oh, they're a bunch of jews". After some more reasearch, I still believe that this is an alternate history, but just more alternate than I previosly thought. So I've removed such things from the story as to not confuse you to the actual cannon.**


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